Pictures, Pictures, and More Pictures

We have been so busy for the last couple weeks! I need to get back to Puerto Rico so I can take a break. We're busy but we're having a lot of fun. Last weekend we made a little trip to Saint George, Utah to hang out with Sarah and TJ. They look for any excuse they can find to get out of Ely. So we met in St. George and hung out. We went to this park there that Sarah and TJ love, and now I know why. It was such a blast! Rhys really wasn't into the Splash Park in Rexburg but he was all over the park here. It's much hotter here so he wasn't as cold. There's this little creek and a fountain for the kids to play in and it's so much fun.

Alyssa was trying to make a dam with her body. Rhys was diggin' it.

Alyssa is such a good Rhys helper.

We were playing in the fountain.

We went to this park place where you climb around on all the rocks. It is so hot in St. George!! we tried to get there in the morning before it go too hot, but we were late. I was a sweaty beast after wards (I'm sure you all wanted to know that!)

Aren't they so cute!! Brenner was loving the rocks.

After we got back from Utah we made a trip up to Island Park and Yellowstone for a couple days. The kids really liked camping. Rhys and I got to sleep in the cabin though because Mom thought Rhys would get too cold. That's what happens when you live in Puerto Rico most of your life I guess! Dad slept in this weird hammocky thing that he made. It's hard to tell but Alyssa and Kenya are inside. The kids thought it was pretty fun swinging on the hammock.

We took a trip to Yellowstone. Mostly we drove around all day because my Mom isn't very aggressive when it comes to finding parking spots. It was pretty busy there when we went and if she couldn't find a parking spot right off, she would just keep driving. We did find a parking spot at Mammoth so we got out for a bit to let the kids look at the geysers.

Remember how I said we drove around most of the day? Well, all that driving, plus windey roads, plus little kids equals throw up. I'm so tired of throw up!!! Anyway, Rhys threw up ALL OVER!! It was disgusting. We went to this waterfall and the only extra clothes I had brought for him was this jacket. He was the little ragmuffin child wandering around Yellowstone. I was actually really embarrassed that he didn't have pants on so I ended up carrying him on my shoulders down this hike hoping it would be less obvious.

Hanging out at Grandma and Grandpa's cabin

This is Max. He is SO busy. We were trying to light a fire and get ready for hot dogs and smores and he was just getting into everything! So we put this backpack on him and Esther got a long rope and she tied it to a tree. Anyway, if you notice he's gotten himself tangled around the chairs and tables. Yes, she tied her child to a tree. It was awesome.

Funny Picture

Rhys got some lollypops from his Aunt Lisa for Valentines day. He enjoyed them a lot!!

Our Continuing Adventures!!

I've been meaning to post these pictures for a while now and I've been totally lame-o. These first pictures are some of Rhys cause, you know, it's really not a blog entry until I've posted pictures of him. So, here he is! This week we went to play at the little park in our neighborhood. He's getting a lot better at walking so I figured he might actually have fun on the toys now. He had a blast walking all over, crawling through all the tubes, and finding leaves to put in his mouth. He's so cute!!

A few weekends ago we went on a little jaunt to Ponce (pronounced Pon-say for all you gringos), which is on the south side of the island. It is such a cool little town. We went to this boardwalk by the beach where you can watch all the boats come in. There are pelicans all over this boardwalk. Scott was trying to get me to touch one of them, but I'm pretty sure if they wanted to they could bite my fingers off. That would not be awesome.
Oh, yes, and Megs, it's January in these pictures and we are all wearing shorts!! It is still so hot!!

We took a tour of this really old cool house. The owner of the house was an architect and very wealthy for that day and age. He had the coolest shower ever!! Back then you were lucky if you had running water period, and he had a shower. It was sweet. Here you can climb up this rickety spiral staircase to get to a patio on the roof. It was nice and breeze up there, and a pretty good view to spy on your neighbors!

Lonely Planet says that this is the most photographed building in Puerto Rico, so I had to take a picture! It's an old fire house. I have no idea why they made it look like this, but it's pretty unique. I dug it. Maybe Scott will let us paint our house like this one day!

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!!