Catamaran + Marriott = One HAPPY Family

It's a good thing we have pictures to remind me of everything we did over the last two weeks. The time has flown by! It always does when you are having a good time. Austin was on break from school until Monday of this week. It wasn't much of a break for him though. The incoming class was lucky to have him as part of their welcome committee. As such, he picked students up from the airport, took them to their apartments and grocery store, and then planned and hosted activities to welcome them to the island. Man oh man, we are both EXTREMELY glad to be on this end of things instead of being the newbies. 

Even though the week of welcoming wore Austin out, he did get paid for it (as a tuition reduction) and we were allowed to go on the Catamaran trip with all the new students. What a blast! It's the first real date Austin and I have had on the island. Eden stayed with our friends and probably had just as much fun. She loves their family- Lyle, Joanna, and their 6 year old son Grant, and twin babies. Seriously though, Eden would be happy holding and kissing the babies for hours!

Sailing away on the Catamaran with the St. Kitts flag behind us.
This is a shot of St. Kitts from the boat. 

Back to our date... Austin got to go on the Catamaran trip when he was a new student a year ago, but on account of a couple unfortunate things- heat rash, lack of babysitters, yadda yadda- I didn't go. Because of that, Austin was so looking forward to taking me this year. It's a big reason why he did the Welcome Committee in the first place, as a matter of fact. We loaded at the Port by where the cruise ships come in. The catamaran we rode on was huge- big enough to fit around 50 people quite comfortably. The front end is mostly roped netting that you can sit on; you can see straight down to the ocean as you are sailing. It's pretty cool. They took us along the coast down the peninsula of St. Kitts and stopped at a place where a large ship had wrecked and created an obvious and intriguing landmark. The boat anchored for a couple hours while we jumped in and grabbed our snorkeling gear... noodles included. Personally, having a noodle while in the ocean makes snorkeling so much more relaxing and enjoyable for me. Austin and I really enjoy snorkeling together. I'm sure I wouldn't see half as much if it weren't for him pointing things out. That being said, I get credit for finding a conch shell. Too bad it was in the middle of lots of sea urchins so we left it on the ocean floor. There were huge sea urchins all around the ocean. That was a little nerve-racking, but pretty. We were surrounded, more than once, in huge schools of tiny fish. Thousands! That was fun. We saw a good bunch of fish besides, and an octopus! We followed that funny looking creature for a good while. Austin imitates it pretty well if you ask. The boat also had free drinks and pizza. While everyone else went crazy for rum punch, we were more than delighted with the pineapple juice, orange juice, ginger ale, and ting. Ting is a big deal on the island- everyone loves it. It's pretty much like Fresca in a bottle. 

Loving the Marriott. What a great life!

Anyway, that was a fun adventure. The island is very pretty when you are looking in from the ocean. It's also very pretty within the walls of the Marriott. Thanks to dad, we were able to experience that luxury again for the past week. I even won a game of Bingo and a raffle at the welcome breakfast. Our family has winning blood, so it was no surprise. It came as a big surprise to everyone else when I mentioned that we were from St. Kitts though. Many people asked me what they could do to live here. If only they knew.. but hearing all the tourists say how beautiful St. Kitts is makes me change my paradigm a little. It is breathtaking in the right places. In fact, the past week has been overcast and rainy. The clouds over the volcano are absolutely beautiful! Everything is much more green that way too. Rain is a good thing. 

We came back to our apartment on Friday. I haven't been so depressed as I was on Friday. I did NOT want to leave. Austin said that was a sure sign that we had a great time. It's absolutely true. We loved every minute. Now we are home. Sigh... it's really not that bad here either, but I could easily get started on a list of complaints if you'd like to hear it. Pearl came to clean up our yard for us this morning- she found three dead chicks at the base of our side door being decomposed by large ants. What a lovely find. We are so grateful for people to take care of us. That's just not something that I would want to deal with.

Austin is good at documenting with pictures so they will tell the rest of the story, but that's all for us!

Roasting marshmallows on the beach. Mmmm...
Don't let Eden fool you. She only likes the chocolate.

This is the beach at the Marriott. A few nights, we saw this windsurfer finding the waves.

Beach baby!

We are always happy at the Marriott. Always.

This was our backyard. WOW.
These cats are everywhere here. Strange, but who can blame them?

April Vacation

Our little girl is growing up. She acts like she owns the place wherever we are. All of a sudden, she looks like a little person instead of a baby. It must be the pig-tails. And isn't she cute in that dress?

But seriously, she waves to everyone and goes wherever she pleases. Walking is so fun. We hit a new milestone today: Eden went to Nursery for the first time! 

Austin has had a wonderful break since finishing finals. It's been fun to have family time and enjoy the island together. Our friends arranged for a few of us families to go hiking together. We ended up going with the Hickmans, our friends with 5 month old twins and a 6 year old, and Nick and Carrie, who have a 2 year old and a baby also. We were quite the gang to be trekking. I was the only one not wearing a child. Everyone else looked like kangaroos. 

This is us before we started the hike. Ready to go!

 Lucky for Eden and me, she has a strong daddy that carried her through the Riverbeds. The hike was pretty flat, but technical at times because of the large rocks we had to climb over. Shortly into the hike, we ran into a 20 foot "ladder" that led to the rest of the trail. As Lyle said, it was very much a third world ladder. All the kids were flying monkeys and all made it to the top. Down was a little trickier.

For the majority of the hike, we walked between two large walls, carved away by water at one time. The vines and everywhere were so cool!

 Eden loves hiking. LOVES it- the sights, the adventure, and being with daddy. Even so, a nap won her company for a time.

These are tree roots.  Pretty neat, right? The tree... it's 30 feet above us, at least. 

Almost there!

Our final destination was a bat cave. That's right, you heard me. A bat cave. Not many people get to see a sight like this in real life. Check this out:

We didn't get too close, especially because Austin just finished taking Microbiology and learned all about diseases you can contract from bat guano. Still, from a short distance, you could see the bats flying everywhere in this open cavern. It smelled horrible! We thought the smell of donkey poop was bad at the beginning of the hike, but that was much better than bat crap. Haha.. Truly though, we had a great time and are so glad we went.

We have now been on the island for an entire year. We have seen all the seasons of St. Kitts. The seasons here may not include winter and fall and actually feel like summer all year round; however, we have seen the seasons of bugs, seasons of fruit, seasons of hurricanes, and seasons where rain should have been. The whole time we have been here, we have had 4 banana trees growing in the back yard. That's probably never going to happen again in our lives. We have been so excited to reap the rewards of fresh bananas, but time after time, bananas keep disappearing! Monkeys... locals... thieves! We just wanted yellow bananas. Lesson 1: bananas don't get yellow here. (They are ripe when they are light green, soft, and full). Lesson 2: if you want a banana, you have to beat the monkeys to it. Lesson 3: if you beat the monkeys, you have to then beat the locals. That's exactly what we did.   

Before anything could rob us of our bananas, we cut them down. Cut them with a paring knife, actually. You'd never know it, but that bunch of bananas is HEAVY! I bet it weighed 40 pounds. Oy! 

Just in case you are wondering, yes, they are delicious!

Thanks to our good friends, the Hickmans, we had another fun day at the beach. We spent a day at Carambola playing in the water and on the sand. It couldn't have been more perfect. We had a tent bed to ourselves, the water was perfect, the sand wasn't too hot, it was pretty empty, and we even got to play a little catch with the football. What a good time!

Does Eden look like a beach girl, or what?

Hat... sun glasses... life-jacket... Daddy ... Check.

 This picture is from before finals. Austin needed to study for his last test so Eden and I vacated the house in honor of peace and quiet. We spent the day walking around the Marriott. Eden had a blast climbing the stairs and running down the ramp and probably waved to 100 people walking by. We were even lucky enough to get popcorn...

Life is so good

Life is so good. Everything seems to be going our way. Austin has one more final before finishing with his third semester of medical school, (which means we have been here for one whole year already!) and is about to get another 4.0. He was elected vice president of AMSA, his teachers are fighting over who gets him to TA for their class, and he was chosen to be on the Welcome Committee during the break, which means that tuition is lower as a result. We had to vacate our house yesterday while they sprayed for bugs, so we spent the day at the pool at the Marriott. The timing was ironic and totally uncharacteristic of Austin of Austin to "play" during test time, but yes, he went swimming during Finals week!.. And got a mighty sunburn as a result. Poor thing. It takes more than sunscreen to make up for a year of being indoors. What are the chances that we run into Austin's Microbiology teacher while there? Well, we did and she whispers, "I'm not supposed to tell you this, but you got a 95!" Yay Austin! Test scores haven't even been disclosed yet, but he knows now that he got a 95% on his Micro final, which is pretty awesome considering this was another NBME- the National Exam. Go Austin! 

My days feel productive and never long enough. I have been hired to write scripts for kids to do group fitness along with a cartoon. As I understand it, it's part of the CORE curriculum now. Kind of cool, right? Currently, I write the script and notes for the cartoon animator who will then make a video clip of what I wrote. Eventually, I may get to be the voiceover, but we shall see. It's been a fun little side job. We may not have much income, but I feel very blessed to have little bits here and there through teaching gymnastics, Vasa, blog writing, and now this. It almost pays for groceries in a month.... almost. I'm excited to announce that my YouTube channel is now a reality and is up and running, now I just have to keep up. I called it JFY Fitness- pronounced "Jiffy" and short for "Just For You." I thought it was clever and I can play on the name. Anyway, here I am: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=UUb3IOyICsI3NwnKugSta6Rg

My birthday was a great time. Austin took me out for dinner- our first time going out on the island- to a place called Serendipity. We may have spent a little much, but we had the best time. We ate on a balcony that overlooked the port. It was pleasant outside and quite breezy. They brought a type of palate cleanser to start us off along with bread and then we both treated ourselves to a yummy dinner. I had a honey teriyaki salmon dish while Austin had a steak- the first in a LONG time that he has actually enjoyed. I can't remember the last time when he cleaned his plate, but he did that night. Eden even had a blast. She was the show to everyone's dinner- those eating and the staff. She did really well sitting at a table for dinner and ate a roll, some veggies, and 2 full glasses of ice. That was a hit! Ice. Who knew? 

Just when we thought we were stuffed and ready to go, they brought out a cheesecake with a sparkler on top. What a birthday! The whole restaurant, it seemed, joined in singing "Happy Birthday," but I just couldn't blow it out! Good thing Austin and Eden let me blow out a match while they sang Happy Birthday the next night so I could get my wish. Our good friend Joanna was so nice and made an ice-cream cake for me. That is a HUGE treat here! 

Again with the blessings, we were fortunate to meet Donna Peterson, one of Dad's patients at the port this week. She was very kind and so friendly. Her family came on a cruise and stopped here for a day and were so nice and brought a package from mom and dad. It was like Christmas! Eden and I looked so cute in our new outfits today at church and Eden has her own make-up. What a girl! She loves it. 

I have to note that Eden loves climbing. That's her new thing. She will climb anything and everything with a ledge. She is also really good at floating on her back. That all started when we were lucky enough to stay at the Marriott. I don't know where it came from, but she loves lounging back and could almost float on her own if I let her. 

Yep, so we have a happy family and count our blessings every day. 

Spoiled We Are

It could have been the worst week ever and I wouldn't even remember because we are in heaven right now. thanks to a generous dad, we are enjoying a week stay at the Marriott. Boy is that an understatement. Enjoying doesn't even come close to describing how happy we are. It's funny how you take for granted the little things. There are so many luxuries that make life so wonderful. I had almost forgotten because you get so complacent with living in humble circumstances and learn to make do with what you have. On one hand, it is a great experience that really puts life in perspective, seeing what really matters and what material things are unnecessary. The other hand is really grateful for modern conveniences and that somewhere in the future I can look forward to these "luxuries" again. The list of such luxuries is a long one, but these are a few things Austin and I are taking full advantage of while we are here:
- pillows
- hot water in the kitchen sink
- a kitchen sink
- a shower big enough to turn around in and shave!
- toilet paper holders
- towel racks
- a dryer and the smell of clean clothes
- a washer inside the house
- an oven big enough for a cookie sheet to fit into
- a fridge that is taller than me
- mirrors tall enough for Austin to see himself in without hunching over
- a kitchen table
- hangers enough to hang clothes
- a laundry basket
- Air Conditioning (free of charge)
- ground level entry
- a bath tub
- clocks that actually tell time
- a counter in the bathroom

... and that's not even taking into consideration the nice things, like a fully furnished kitchen, complete with blender, two bathrooms, a separate room for Eden, a dishwasher... did I mention that we are having a good time? This week could not be long enough.




This is something you don't see at our house: cartoons! What a lucky girl.

Austin and I aren't the only ones enjoying ourselves. Eden acts like she owns the place and runs back and forth up and down the halls oohing and awing. She loves the pictures and couldn't be more fascinated with so much to look at. Did I mention there are buttons? Oh yes! Buttons on the dishwasher, microwave, oven, lights, and so many doors to open! It is fun here.

Austin commented that he likes St. Kitts. Yes, well, living here, I can see why people would. Even the weather is nicer when you are staying at the Marriott.

The other highlight of the weekend was, of course, Conference. Conference makes us feel like we are close to home. It really was powerful and we loved every minute of it.

Eden loves Conference too. She could watch Motab all day. It's true what they said- children are sensitive to the Spirit and could speak marvelous things if their mouths were to be opened. I might have mentioned it before, but there are a few things that make me feel like a good parent. One is that Eden is a good "mommy" to her baby doll. The other is that she learned how to pray. It is the sweetest thing. She clasps her hands and bows her face into them while she whispers her little babble talk. It was my greatest desire to raise a child of faith; this is a great start. She knows who Jesus is too. thanks to mom, we have a bunch of Greg Olson photos hung around our room. If you ask her where Jesus is, she will show you.



We sure miss chasing the birds and having grass right out the door to play on. This will surely put a smile on your face (Sorry I don't know how to rotate it):

The Easter Bunny even found us in St. Kitts

Happy Easter to all!

What a wonderful day! Austin and I really like this Easter Bunny thing, especially me. Creating the magic is so much fun. We have been so very blessed and got a lot of goodies from a friend who is moving. One of the items was a pink tent. We set up the tent in the living room and hid Eden's Easter basket inside. Her expressions are priceless! She loves awing and her eyebrows can't get higher at times. The great thing about this age is that simple is perfect. St. Kitts doesn't do the plastic egg or Easter egg hunt thing, so we had to settle for hard boiled eggs. The only disadvantage was that we had to hide the eggs after church so they wouldn't spoil. Eden loved it. She loved it so much that Austin kept secretly taking eggs out of her basket to hide them over and over. What fun! 

It has been wonderful watching the Kittitians celebrate Easter. It's like Christmas here. Everything shuts down. They celebrate Good Friday and Easter Monday (though I can't figure out where the Monday came from). Austin keeps saying that we need more religion in America like this. It's really cool that it's so widely accepted and openly celebrated. So, they don't to the plastic eggs, but they do fly kites. I guess that's their tradition. We drove past maybe 100 kites on Good Friday, kind of cool. Kites, and salt fish are their traditions, I hear. They eat salt fish, coconut dumplings, and veggies for Easter... much different than ham and funeral potatoes, right? 

I was grateful to be teaching in primary yet again today. It's wonderful to feel like you are making a difference. There was a boy in class today, visiting with his neighbor, who is not a member of the church. He was very pleasant and seemed very intent on learning. Surprisingly, the kids in class didn't know the real reason we celebrate Easter aside from the fun and treats. That left me with an exciting yet challenging task. How do you explain everything- Christ, the Atonement, that He died to save us from death and sin, and the Resurrection, plus the whole story- in one class period? As I started teaching about the Atonement and how Jesus Christ went to a garden to pray, he said "Father in Heaven..." this boy stopped me and said he didn't understand. How could God pray to himself? Wow. The truths we take for granted. Like I said, what an exciting opportunity for me! I tried my best to explain that we all have a Heavenly Father, who is God. Jesus Christ's father is also God, but He doesn't have an earthly dad, so that made him a God too, but they are different beings. We have a few light bulb moments in Primary. That was one.  Another was these kids learning that when we die, because of Jesus Christ we don't go to hell. Many- too many- think that and they aren't afraid to say it. 

Eden and I spent one morning at the park this week. We invited all the moms to join us so there was quite the party. It is such a joy for me to watch Eden. She is such a people person and loves being friends with everyone. Although Eden is the youngest one in her group of little friends, it doesn't stop her from jumping in and running around with everyone and yelling from one person to another. We have passed the "I have to be by mom all the time" phase. She's a free spirit now. Joanna, our friends also from Utah, was there with her 6 year old, Grant, and her twins. Eden really likes Joanna and is comfortable going to her now. She was getting a stroller ride from Joanna when we hear Grant yelling from the bathroom. I ran to his aid and as I suspected, he was in need of toilet paper. I handed him toilet paper and turned around to see a real, live, 8- inch centipede crawling toward us. Ew! That's the first live one I've seen (thank goodness). All I could do was say, "Grant, wipe fast!" because it was corning us into the stall. Needless to say, we booked it out of there. I never want to see one of those again. 

On a happier note, I have to brag. Eden is wearing big girl panties and keeps them dry. We have had a couple of days where we have been out and even then, she hasn't wet her pants. We have a potty-trained 15 month old! Yay for saving money and laundry! Go Eden!

Just look at that blue sky!

Now 26

Once Austin gets to his second set of block exams, time flies. We can't believe it is already March! I have started to get in my own groove and can't get nearly enough done in a day. One of the additions to my schedule includes going to the school gym with another mom three times a week. Eden is a trooper and sits in her stroller while I exercise. She wants to do everything mommy does though. After watching me, she knew exactly what to do with the weight. It looks like it's her size, but boy is three pounds heavy when you only weigh 22! That's my girl! Eden was doing overhead presses and bicep curls nonetheless. Go Eden!

Austin's birthday was March 1st- like it is every year. Lucky for him, this was Leap Year, so his birthday was moved back a day. I say lucky because he would have had tests otherwise. It was a very Happy Birthday for him because he came home early from school. That never happens! 

You can't have a birthday without cake and ice-cream, so that's what Austin got. It's about the only thing Austin got, but he is so easy to please and loves sugar, so it was a happy day. The store was out of candles so Austin got to blow out matches instead. Sadly, they wouldn't stay lit! After maybe 4 tries, I think Austin got to blow out at least one. None of them lasted through a song of "Happy Birthday" though. 

You are seeing the same picture over and over again because it took that many tries to keep the match lit. Austin was nice and played along. He poses so well you wouldn't know otherwise.

 Eden LOVES her baby doll. She doesn't get vary far without her these days. It's darling to watch her pat the baby's back, give her hugs and kisses, and feed her baby. She's really quite the good mini mommy, but it's trouble when Eden wants to bring the baby in the shower. The baby can't get wet and if the baby doesn't get wet, Eden doesn't want to either.

Eden's other new favorite thing is coloring. She loves her little chalkboard from Grandma Cutler and anything that will draw. That includes the walls and her hands. It's amazing how fast they figure that out! It keeps me on my toes.




It has been raining a fair amount lately. It's beautiful! We love it even more because it cools down the weather. I can't believe it, but we actually put on jackets to go for a walk one evening. I'm not sure that will ever happen again so we had to take a picture. Kisses from us!

Anyone remember the story of the Hungry Caterpillar? Does this guy look familiar? I noticed these caterpillars in our backyard. Over maybe two days these caterpillars went from being three inches long to doubling in size. The picture doesn't show how HUGE they are, but these bugs are almost 6 inches long. Hungry Caterpillar was right!

The mom that goes the the gym with me cam over with her kids one afternoon to make cookies. Those never last very long. Yum! That's our week in a wrap. Church keeps us busy- I taught three lessons today. I guess that's expected in a branch. Primary, Sharing Time, and Temple Prep are all in a row. Austin had an early morning EQ meeting too, so we were at church for over 5 hours. I love it all. Truly, I love teaching and the chance to study. There's an added spirit when preparing as a teacher that brings so much clarity to topics. But Oy! 5 hours is a long time for anybody, so go Eden! She is a super baby to last that whole time.  The school had their regular Sunfest party at the beach this weekend too. I should have gotten pictures, but totally forgot! It's not very often that Austin gets a break to play. He would have been happy sleeping in, but I made him come with us and we all had a good time. He was able to play volleyball and throw around a football besides enjoy the gorgeous scenery. It's much prettier than when we arrived on the island. The Atlantic side was feeling the storm too, so we witnessed the thundering clouds and harsh waves on the drive. Amazingly, you couldn't even tell on the opposite side of the peninsula besides slightly colder water. The longer we live here, the more we realize what a rare and awesome opportunity it is to live here. Our circumstances may be humble and there might be things to complain about, but when isn't there. There is much wisdom in being grateful for all things. We are happy, healthy, and oh so blessed!