Merry Christmas!!!

We had such a fun Christmas with Rhys this year. He doesn't really get the concept of Christmas yet, being only 9 months old and all. We think he had a good time even if he didn't understand what was going on.
Momma Jo sent Rhys some cute jammies she had made. Too bad they are like 3 sizes to big. We'll hold on to them for a year or so and see if they fit then.

Rhys was not really into opening presents. He tried it and he wasn't interested. I got to open them instead.

Rhys is so funny lately. Check out this cute video!!!

The Dreaded In-Laws!!

Just kidding. I love my in-laws. I think I won the in-law lottery. They're great people. They came and hung out with us for nearly two weeks and it was a blast. I need a couple days to recover from all the fun . Blaine loves to snorkel so we had to go to as many beaches we could to snorkel. We found some really cool stuff and had a blast. These pictures are a little bit out of order so bear with me here.

This is a picture of Rhys at Mar Chiquita. Someone told us there was good snorkeling here but when we got there to look at it we realized very quickly that we wouldn't be doing any snorkeling there. The waves were huge and it's surrounded by these razor sharp rocks. Even though we didn't swim there Rhys had a blast. The actual beach is behind him, this water is run-off from the huge waves crashing over the rocks. It was still and clear and shallow so he had a really fun time crawling around in it. He's so happy, and of course you've got the sickly starving dog in the background. That's Puerto Rico for you!




This is why we didn't snorkel. It's a small beach with huge waves and sharp rocks. Not a good combo for snorkeling. So beautiful though. I think I took about 50 pictures.

I had to show Rhys cowboy boots to Dad. I got these before Rhys was even born and he's almost grown into them. I even have spurs!! We had to check them out. Sasha's good for something, right? Dad's excited for us to come to Idaho in the summer so we can try the boots out on some real horses.

We had the chance to go take a ferry out to the island of Culebra. One of the beaches there, Flamenco, was voted one of the best beaches in the world so we had to check it out. It was a super fun, super exhausting adventure. Here are Rhys and Dad hanging out. They had a blast together.

This is Flamenco beach. It really was beautiful. We didn't stay very long cause there isn't snorkeling here. We left the beautiful beach to hike over the hill to go to an ugly beach with snorkeling where I got about 75 mosquito bites. The snorkeling was pretty wicked awesome though.

Us on the Ferry. I'm trying not to get seasick.

We took a break from the beach to go to Old San Juan. These are the boys checking out the Forts.

So Scott got asked to be Santa at our Wards Christmas party. It was so funny I almost wet myself. Keep in mind we live in Puerto Rico and the church doesn't have air conditioning. He was so hot!! He was sweating before he even left the bathroom. The suit itself is hot but he's so skinny we stuffed it to fill him out more. The kids thought it was pretty funny. The best part was we tried to get Rhys to sit on Santa's lap and he totally freaked. He screamed for 10 minutes straight and took another 10 to get him completely calmed down. I didn't get a picture but some people from our Ward did and I'm waiting for them to send me a copy.

If I really was married to Santa I would so let myself go. I would love to be Mrs. Clause.

The Fruits of my Labors!!!

This is pretty much all that my blood sweat and tears amounts to. Two peas. Yippee. I tried my hand at growing a garden. I figured that things should grow really well here since it's so warm and sunny. So I decided to pull up some of the grass in my back yard, fill it with dirt and plant some seeds. Easy, right? Not so much.

First of all, I didn't realize how hot it was outside. I think I literally sweat out a gallon of water just pulling the grass out. It wasn't really hard work but about 5 minutes in, I would be dripping in sweat. Gross, huh?

Second of all, I didn't realize how much dirt it would take to fill in my small garden. I kept on having to go back to the store and buy more dirt. I started filling it in with potting soil, cause that's all I could find, until my last trip when I found topsoil. I could have saved a ton if I had found that first.

Third of all, I didn't realize how persistent Sasha would be about getting into it. I was planning on her trying to get into it so I bought a little fence to go around it to discourage her from trying. Yeah, well I must have forgotten that I have the worst Great Dane ever! Pretty much the day after I had planted she got into it and rolled around. I would have had the most beautiful straight rows of peas and corn you've ever seen, but NO, she had to mess them up. I replanted the places she ruined and reinforced the fence to discourage her, bit it didn't work. She got in again. Anyway, long story short, I had to make a new fence. But by that time, I'd had to replant a couple of times. So frustrating!!

Then Fourth of all, Puerto Rico's weather is crazy!!! It's either scorching or it's raining. It rained for like a week off and on and flooded my garden about 5 times. Here's a lovely picture of one of the times. By this point half my corn is already laying down and my peas are totally drowned. Now I realize why I haven't seen any other gardens in Puerto Rico.

Oh well. On the bright side I have gotten some peas!! 5 to be exact. All that work and 5 peas!! I have to say though, that they are the best peas I've ever had in my life!!! I'm saying lots of prayers that I'll get more than just 5 peas or I will feel completely defeated. Bested by a garden, that will be me.

This is how we spent Black Friday. No shopping for us! We took Rhys (another fruit of my labours) to the beach. He loves the beach. Anywho, he was crawling around and totally face planted into the sand. The funny thing it that he wasn't upset about it at all. Scott said he looked like the sandy Phantom of the Opera. I think I'll pulling sand out of his hair for the next week.

Ok, so total side note, what is the deal with European men and teeny tiny swimsuits? Seriously, who wants to see all of that? I mean if I go to the beach and my husbands swimsuit is smaller that mine, don't you think that's a huge read flag? We saw this couple and it completely looked like this dude had stolen his girlfriends bikini bottoms. He wasn't hiding anything! Gross! Another guy was sporting a speed-o with sparkly bling. Dudes should never wear a bedazzled sped-o. Even if you are gay (which I'm sure he was).

Here's another side note, I love seeing chubby girls on the beach. They make me feel so much better about myself. I feel so much better knowing that even if I don't look like Giselle in my board shorts at least I don't look like the chubbs who shouldn't be wearing a bikini. Insensitive, maybe, but so true.

Rhys was helping me do the laundry. SO CUTE!!

Fun Times in Puerto Rico

We've had some awesome adventures here in Puerto Rico lately. We got to check out a new beach, Luquillo Beach, which was amazing. It looked like a postcard! I stink at arranging the pictures on here so they're kinda backwards. This picture is of Rhys as we were getting ready to leave. I set him on the chair while I was packing up and this is how I found him. He was actually pretty content all squished like that.

Rhys Loves the beach. He had an awesome time crawling around and trying to eat sand and pine needles.

We had the chance to go to another one of the big Forts here named Cristobol (like crystal ball). It was really neat to wander around. This fort was designed to catch rain water and that's what the Forts residents drank. The water was all collected in these reservoirs that you can still look down. The boys were checking it out. I have the most handsome guys in my family!!

Rhys' First Halloween

Not only was it Rhys' first Halloween, it was our first Halloween in Puerto Rico! I'm not used to celebrating Halloween in 85 degree weather. It was fun though. This is Rhys' first cotton candy. It was really sticky because of the humidity and wherever it touched it immediately stuck there.

This is Amy, she's in my ward. She just had this beautiful baby and he and Rhys were twinners. There was another little boy wearing a skeleton costume and we tried to get them all together for a picture but he decided to have a melt down before Scott could find the camera. They're still super cute just the two of them.

La cucaracha, la cucaracha.....

As per my complaints with the pictures on my last post I decided to post the pictures anyway. These pictures really gross me out, which is why I HAVE to share them. Now I'm really paranoid that I have huge cockroaches crawling all over my house. But so far, luckily, no more sightings (at least in my house anyway)

Isn't that the most disgusting thing you've ever seen? The other day I was standing in the check-out line at Walmart. I was right next to the candy and what-not that they always put in the line to tempt you while you're standing there waiting (and if you're in Puerto Rico, waiting, and waiting, and waiting...) and I saw this little creature crawling all over the shelf. I tapped the guy in front of me on the shoulder and asked him if it was a cockroach. It was! I thought cockroaches were nocturnal and wouldn't calmly come out with people right next to them, but I guess I was wrong. I will definitely think twice next time I am tempted to buy a candy bar while waiting in the check out-line. I hate cockroaches.

Uber Cute Pictures

Sometimes this blogging thing makes me crazy! I've been trying to rearrange pictures and put writing over the top one and it won't let me. If anyone has any tips on how to do this let me know. I'm sure it's super easy but I am not smart enough right now to figure it out. I was trying to put a picture of this HUGE cockroach that we found in our house. Actually Sasha found it and was chasing it all over the living room. She got it cornered and Scott caught it. Luckily Scott was there because I can honestly say I don't know what I would have done. No way I want to touch that thing and no way I want to leave it in my house. Thank goodness for a husband who will do the stuff that I won't do.

Anyway, can I just say that I have the cutest kid ever? I love him so much. He learned to crawl a little while ago and now he's zooming everywhere getting into things. Here are some cute new pictures of him that I'm sure you're all on the edge of your seats waiting to see. (p.s. I don't know why this is blue and underlined. This blog has a mind of it's own)
I thought this picture was cute because the bear is the same size as he is and it was like they were pals hanging out together.

I found this cute pool (for only $10!!) for Rhys to play in. He was really excited! Look at that cute face!

Ok, if you don't think this is the cutest picture ever, there is something wrong with you. He loves those little Gerber puffy star things and he's gotten so good and picking them up and putting them in his mouth. He was just off a little bit from his mouth with this one.