He's cute, I promise!!

So Sarah told me the other day that Rhys looks like a goober in the pictures I post. I just want to say that he is cute and not always goobery. I just post those pictures because I think they're funny. So I wanted to post some non-goober pictures of my son just so everyone can know that he actually is adorable!

See, he's not gooby, or goofy or whatever. Actually, he is goofy and that's why I love him so much!!

Our new Mascota

We got a new pet the other day. It came in with a plant I had potted and left outside for a while. He lives in my entry way between the two plants I've got in there. Someone suggested that I should just leave him because he can eat all the bugs in my house. So I don't mind him being there. It's just weird when I walk through the entry way and I can see him scurrying across the wall or floor. Anyway, I can't think of a good name for him, so if anyone has any suggestions pass them on.

P.S. Sarah is supposed to be having Brenner tomorrow so everyone keep them in they're prayers that everything will go smoothly. We love you Sari and we're excited to see little Brenner!!!

Seeing the Sights!

So this weekend we made our way down to check out Old San Juan. It's pretty cool. It was like a billion degrees (no exaggeration!) so we only stayed for a couple hours. It's not like we won't have time to go there again. We visited one of the forts there named Morro. It was such a beautiful day. There were a bunch of people on the lawns flying kites and there were booths set up were you could buy a kite to fly if you wanted. Here is Scott on his way to the fort.

Right to the side of Fort Morro is a really cool cemetery with these awesome sculptures. It was a really cool view.

Scott and Rhys at the fort. He's always got at least one hand in his mouth (Rhys, not Scott). He's a really good baby to have to cart around. If he wasn't so good we would never be able to go and see stuff.

Our little family at the fort. Aren't we hot? We literally are!



We are experiencing our first Hurricanes and tropical storms here in Puerto Rico. Hurricane Ana was on her way towards us yesterday and was supposed to hit this morning. They turn the water and power off here right before the storm hits and you never know when they will turn them back on. So Scott and I got ready with our new generator, water storage and propane grill. He made me get up at 5:30 this morning to fill up the bath tubs with water just in case. Luckily it didn't hit us hardly at all. All we ended up getting was called a tropical depression which gave us a ton of rain and a really cool thunderstorm. This morning Rhys and I laid in my bed, I had opened the blinds in my room, and we just watched the thunderstorm. Some of the lightning was so close the thunder shook the house, and that's pretty good for a house made out of cement.
We are watching Hurricane Bill now. The first news said it was going to hit us pretty hard, but last I heard was that it's path changed and we might get only a little bit of it. You never know what will happen though so we're still going to prepare. Better safe than sorry.
We were talking to some of the people in our ward that have been here for a while and they were telling us that the locals don't always hate the hurricanes because it's an excuse not to have to go to work. So they just stay inside and drink until it gets over. The other day we were at Costco and there were people with shopping carts full of beer and Scott saw someone loading up the back of their pick-up truck with just alcohol. I guess we all prepare in our own ways.

Donde la Vida es Bella

Yo habla espanol... wait, no I don't!! We finally have the internet! It's wierd how dependent I've become on the internet. I'm connected with the outside world again! We're almost done unpacking and our house is feeling more and more like a home. I still have boxes all over because I just got my bookcases and so now those boxes and the boxes that had the books in them are laying in the middle of my floor.
Things have been crazy here. Living in Puerto Rico is an adventure for sure. They do things so wierd here! The way they do some things just does not make sense to me. For example, when you are registering your car, the place you get your registration is not the same place you pay for it. So you have to go to this place and do some paperwork or whatever, they send you to some place across town to pay for it, then you have to go back to the first place and show them that you paid and then they give you the registration. Why don't they just take your money at the first place? It doesn't make sense right?!! Some of the things they do just boggle the mind! It's not all been bad though. I still feel good about being here and there are some really beautiful and good things to experience.

P.S. while I've been writing this the power has gone out. Lovely!


Anyway, I've got some pictures at last. I don't have any of my house because it's still kinda messy. It's a work in progress. But this is a picture of part of the drive to our house. Pretty much this drive was what sold me on wanting to live in this town. Some of the other places looked pretty ghetto but this was more like Tropical Paradise. I love the palm trees.

This is one of the beaches we drive past to get to church. It's really pretty. I took Rhys and Sasha on a walk there this morning and we saw some little crabs running around. One of the bummers about this place is that people leave garbage all over! So right behind me in the picture is a highway that is littered with trash. Its really upsetting because it's a beautiful beach that people have messed up.

I love these trees. I don't know the name of them but someone told me that they are Puerto Rico's state tree. They have these beautiful red flowers all over them. I want one.

Did I mention that we got Sasha? Well we did. This is what she does about 85% of the time. You can't see but there is a fan right by her head. The rest of the time she is following me around the house getting under foot. Our friends here have a little tiny white dog. She's about the size of a cat. She and Sasha have become friends and they like to play together. It's so cute cause the little dog thinks she's a big dog and Sasha doesn't know she's a big dog and the little dog bosses her around. They like to chase eachother and it's so funny.

Here's Rhys!! He's getting so big!! He's getting two bottom teeth now and starting to drool like a madman. He loves this little bouncy car.

He wasn't sure what to think about this hat. I thought it was funny.

Could I get some cold water please?

You know how the longer you run the hot water the hotter it gets? Well the same thing happens here with the cold water. It starts off luke warm and just gets hotter and hotter. It is never cold! I never thought it would be impossible to get cold water out of the tap, but it is!! I give Rhys baths in straight "cold" water and its the perfect temperature for him. It's the weirdest thing ever!! Just one of the crazy things we've experienced so far living in PR.
We finally found a house here. It is really awesome. The economy is bad here, just like the rest of the country. The people here are having a hard time getting renters into their places, so they have dramatically dropped the prices on their houses. We benefit a lot from their desperation. The house we're renting used to sell for almost half a million dollars, and we can afford to rent it. We also convinced them to build us a fence and hook us up with all the appliances. That just shows how desperate they are just to get someone in there. So kudos for us. Anyway, I am really excited to move in and have people come and visit us!!

We Made It!!

We made it here safely yesterday. It is so hot here!! We are totally roasting so far. Apparently it is the hot, rainy, tornado season here. We got in to the airport at about 3:30 and didn't find our hotel until almost 6. We got so lost! The GPS can't find anything and they don't label the streets at all. We were super frusterated last night and were pretty much hating Puerto Rico. Today we went with a relator and looked at a bunch of houses to rent. Some were really nice onces (we looked at a house with an elevator!!) and some really crappy ones. We're going out again on Monday to look at some more houses so hopefully we can find something perfect. Wish us luck!!!

4th of July

We had an awesome time in DC for the 4th. Kelli, Greg, and Brycen came out to spend the weekend here. Kelli bought the kids these 4th of July top hats. They were covered with glitter and the glitter got all over everything! It was still cute though.

Rhys's hat was a little big.

His head was covered in glitter. It took me a couple of days to get it all out!

This is us at the fireworks. We thought that Rhys might get scared but he actually loved it. He was mesmerized by them.

Our little family leaves for Puerto Rico tomorrow morning. Good bye continental United States!! We'll Miss You!!