Happy Birthday Mom!

Today is my wonderful mother's birthday! I'm so sad that I'm not there in Utah to celebrate with her, so I figured that a blog post would be the next best thing:)

When I was thinking of a way to convey how great she is, I thought of a care package she sent us back in October. We love getting packages here, it feels like Christmas every time we open one. After we picked it up at the post office I was so excited to take it home and go through it. There were several items we asked her to send that we were needing and as I started going through the package I found every one of them, exactly what we needed. I had to smile a little bit to see that the package was packed to the brim, not one bit of space wasted. This woman is organized, creative and efficient. There were several items in the package that we didn't ask for, but she had picked up from some of our conversations that we might be needing/wanting them. She is intuitive and she perceptive. She has always had an ability to just pick up on what others might be needing and she always steps forward to serve them. Then there were some other items that we really didn't need, but were just for fun and made me happy. We can't get a lot of "extras" down here, so their inclusion seemed like such a luxury to us. She spreads happiness wherever she goes.

Happy Birthday Mom! We love you!

WE MOVED! We love our new place! We started packing up on Monday afternoon. Chase wanted to help. We stuck him in the barrel we were packing at the time and he had a blast pulling out all the clothes we had just packed. It was adorable.


After that he climbed into the suitcase I had just finished packing. Apparently I didn't get it quite right, so he helped me out by pulling all the stuff out of it so I could try again.

Tuesday morning we moved into our new apartment. Our friends Broc and Crystal came to help us move. Crystal watched Chase while Broc helped load and unload stuff- they saved us! We got everything into our new place in about an hour and spent the rest of the day getting everything organized. We love the new digs- it's bigger, cleaner, nicer and so close to everything! Here are a few pictures of the new spot. We are loving the comfy couches, having a kitchen table, a normal size oven, a study space for Ben. The only downside is our bedroom, which we are now sharing with Chase, who is teething and no longer sleeping through the night. I guess we'll just need to adjust:)




Now that we have the move over with and the semester done, we can fully enjoy our Christmas break! We've been playing Christmas music all day, baking cookies and Ben and I finally got around to watching the First Presidency Christmas devotional. It's helped me stay focused on what is really important this season- celebrating and honoring our Savior and spending time with my little family, instead of focusing on what we are missing back in Utah (although we do miss our family back in the states dearly!) My mom did send us a few Christmas decorations and a stocking for Chase, and I've loved having them out! A friend in our branch brought back crafting supplies from the states and we made these JOY decorations a few weeks ago. I LOVE this time of year!

HALF WAY

Yesterday we had a great day. We are moving today to our new place and amidst all the packing we got the email. THE EMAIL! The email that reports Ben's grades for the semester. We were both filled with relief, happiness and gratitude to see that he passed 2nd semester. This semester was hard. Ben studied long, long hours. We were stressed out of our minds several times. We said lots of prayers. He has officially and successfully completed year 1 of medical school! We are now on the downhill stretch of our time on the island, 2 semesters down 2 to go. We just couldn't be more thrilled.

Today we are moving. Every other time I've moved to a new place there has been this small twinge of sadness in me (or big twinge, depending on the move) at leaving the old place with all it's memories and neighbors we loved. This time I feel none of that, for a few reasons. The only regret I have about this move is that we didn't do it sooner. The new place is much nicer, newer, cheaper, closer to campus, more spacious, has American electrical outlets and a full size oven. It's a dream here in Dominica. It's not too far away from where we used to live, so I can still see my neighbor all the time. Basically there is no downside. (Besides that it is a one bedroom apartment, not quite sure yet how that is going to go) We are ecstatic about the move- I'll post pictures once we are in the new place!

A week of emotions

This last week has been full of every emotion possible. Here is the short list:

ANXIETY: Last Tuesday Ben took his final. For a little explanation, this final makes up 45% of his final grade and it is comprehensive. Ben felt like it was hard, but he'd done all he could possibly do and studied as hard and long as he possibly could.

RELIEF: Once the final was over I got my husband back! Chase is able to enjoy all the time in the world with his dad. We have had time to relax and just enjoy being together as a family. We haven't been able to do that since August. It has been lovely.

SADNESS: I hate saying good bye. Really, really dislike it. My dear friend Ann and her little family have completed their time here on the island. Ann has been my saving grace here many times and I've been dreading her leaving. On Friday I said good bye to this amazing woman and her cute little family. I was so sad.

SURPRISE: Later Friday night Ann's husband showed up at our door during dinner. They missed their flight- which is sad and frustrating for them- but so exciting for us! They needed a place to stay, so we put them up at our little place. It was a blast. We had a weekend long party! I think Heavenly Father knew that I just needed a little more time with my friend:) It was a nice little early Christmas present.

MORE ANXIETY: Still waiting for grades to come out.

PEACE: I love the Christmas season! I've had a few opportunities to study about the Savior during this season and it fills me with peace, hope and love for my Savior.

Here are some darling pictures of Chase with Ann's little one Alise. Alise is two months younger than Chase and they are such great buddies. They crawl around after each other, have to eat whenever the other one is eating, steal each other's food (well, mostly just Chase steals Alise's food- we're working on his manners) and sometimes will just sit and smile at each other. I think they might be soul mates.

Missing Will

I was so sad to see Will go yesterday- I think I cried for 10 minutes right after he left. It was a blast having him here. I loved having the company and the help with Chase. Part of what made me so sad was seeing how happy Will made my little Chaser. They totally bonded while Will was here. Will is good at being silly, playing on the floor with Chase, and was strong enough to haul him around in the backpack so we could still go on adventures. Thank you so much for coming Will! We love you and miss you!

Will is HERE!

My brother Will came to visit us this week! We have had a blast and Chase has loved having his fun Uncle around. We've had lots of down time just hanging around the house and playing with sweet Chaser, a trip to the pool, lots of walks around the island, and a little more exploring. On Wednesday we went on a trip that I've been wanting to do for a long time. We started at Titou Gorge. I didn't take this picture below, I got it off google images, and I feel like it just barely captures how amazing this experience was! We left Chase with one of the nice people on the trip while Will and I swam through this gorge. It was breathtaking and there is a big waterfall at the end. We couldn't swim too close to the waterfall because the current was so strong, I'd be swimming as hard as I could and staying in one place. It was such a cool place I am going to take Ben back for sure!

Our next stop was Trafalgar Falls, which was truly amazing! Will hiked in with Chase in the backpack, which Chase loved. The falls are enormous. It was one of those sites that is so beautiful it's hard to believe it's even real!


From this lookout point you can see both falls, but they are so far apart I couldn't get them both in one shot. This is the upper falls. I love Chase's little head poking out behind Will- he did that for the majority of the hike.
We hiked down to the base of the lower falls. Will was a champ climbing over these slippery rocks with a squirmy baby in the pack. Unfortunately, shortly after we got to this point Chase got super fussy and decided he was done! Will hiked out with Chase complaining the whole time.

Our next stop was Screws Spa. I loved this place as well. These are natural hot springs and they have created 5 pools, all with varying temperatures, from really cold to super hot. Since we were with Chase we only enjoyed the more medium and warm temperature pools. Will taught Chase how to really splash at the pool on Monday, and Chase took this opportunity to show off his splashing skills. He'd splash and then laugh, then splash then laugh. Then he'd grab my hands and make me splash. It was so cute and Will and I enjoyed relaxing a little in the pools after our hiking that morning.

I didn't take any pictures at Screws- but here is one I pulled off google that shows what the spas look like.

After all these stops and basically no nap for Chase, he was really tired and fussy. He fell asleep right before we got to Screws, so I had to wake him up to put him in his swim suit, which he did amazingly well with.
After our swim at Screws Chase was really fussy and so tired. As we were waiting for everyone to load up into the van Will bounced Chase and tried to comfort him. I looked over and this is what I saw
Little Chase was out! And he slept most of the ride back to Picard. To say Chase loves Will would be an understatement, he's had a blast with his uncle!

11

Our sweet baby boy is 11 months old! He is getting so big and doing so many fun new things. Highlights of Chase in this last month

• He got his top two teeth! It was quite the ordeal, but they finally broke through
• He got his first cold this last weekend
• The above statements mean that his great record of sleeping through the night has been somewhat disturbed the last few weeks, hopefully it'll come back soon!
• Will still eat almost anything. Only now he'll tell me when he's done eating by picking food up, mashing it up in his little fists and then dropping in on the floor.
• Loves to stack things, try to put lids on tupperware and through things away in the trash can.
• Cruises around everything and loves to walk holding our hands
• Cries every morning when Ben leaves and pretty much any other time someone says "good-bye"
• My favorite- says mama!

And here are probably way too many pictures of our sweet Chase- but I just think he's so cute I couldn't help myself!