Season of Gifts

So far, this Christmas has been filled with fun and joy!

We were able to be at the Bishop's house for Christmas Eve. What a great gift! We sat around the tree after dinner and shared thoughts and testimonies of Christ and His birth. I love talking about what the scripture people must have been thinking and feeling when they recieved witnesses that our Savior was born. It is so exciting to know about the greatest Christmas gift- Christ himself!

Another great gift was that Aubrey, our cousin, gave us matching pajamas!! We've never had matching clothes like that before! Jeremy said "Hey, SarahLynn, now you can wear your own clothes and still feel like you are wearing mine!"

One more noteworthy gift was an awesome poem book that our brother Matt (age 13) made at school. Here are two poems that he wrote about us.

Recipe of Being a Good Brother
By The Matt

1 Cup of Sports
3 Cups of Laughter
1/100 tsp. of beating up your little bro
2 Cups of Caring
5 Cups of Fun
2 TBsp of Video Games
A Bushel of Love
1 Cup of Creativity

Mix it all together and roll it in 10 cups of Memories. Place 1/2 in. apart ona BIG cookie sheet for 13 years. Recipe should make BILLIONS of good times!

To The Beach
by The Matt

Above the first floor apartments,
Along the rails of the staricase,
Across the intersections of Huntington Beach,
Between walking pedestrians and other riders,
Along the beach we ride,
Until we reach the right spot,
Off of our bikes,
Onto the beach we walk,
Down to the lukwarm water,
Through the rest of the day we play.

Little of This - Little of That

1. We got to visit Grandma and Grandpa Robertson and aunt&uncle Tina and Dave a couple weeks ago. We were able to catch a dinner with them before they went on their cruiz that left from Long Beach. We visited, ate, and visited. Grandpa was a hoot! It was great to see him looking so good and making lots of jokes with us. I really admire Grandma for all the patience and love that she has for Grandpa. They are so lucky to have each other! And we felt very lucky to be with them.

2. I had my first formal teaching observation on Tuesday. I wasn't nervous about actually teaching, it was just getting the lesson together perfectly that was the stressful part. The lesson turned out really well, and my boss gave me awesome ratings. But the best part was that while I was teaching, the kids made all the discoveries that I wanted them to--on their own! It was very exciting for me.

3. I organized the first school-wide Sing-In this past week. Every grade sang a winter song and the teachers sang a song, too. It was really festive and fun. I love being a music teacher because of events like these!!

4. We saw the movie Avatar on Friday, which was really good. It was a blend of Pocahontas and Fern Gully, only in 22nd century mode. We've got lots of movie tickets from my students that we are excited to use. Any suggestions of good ones that you've seen??

5. The Balboa Boat Parade was gorgious again this year!! Jeremy dropped off Ashlea and I next to a bridge to start watching the boats that are all lit up. The lights were beautiful and the weather was great- 68 degrees at night. By the time Jeremy found a place to park and catch up with us, the parade was over! Poor guy.

6. So here's a follow up from the previous post titled Couch Potato- Last night I dreamed that I ran into Mrs. Duggar, the mom on 18 Kids and Counting. I told her how much I loved her family and the show. Then I started telling her how much she would love the restored gospel, and I taught her all about our church, the Book of Mormon, and families being together forever. She seemed really interested. But when I told her about Joseph's vision, she just laughed in my face and walked away. I was really, really sad about that. Then I woke up and realized that maybe this couch potato business is getting a little out of hand!

7. We have our tree up! It kind of looks like a leaning tower of lights. We will be enjoying Christmas Eve and Day at our place here in HB. Then on the 26th, we fly down to Puerta Vallarta to meet up with my parents and sisters. We will get to spend the whole week together and scuba dive!! Woohoo!

8. We went to a professional soccer game. It was a fun cultural experience! Even Jeremy admitted there is a lot to professional soccer that he simply does not understand, but it was fun to be there and experience it all.

Couch Potato

Mom was right. I have grown into a huge couch potato.

Everyday when I get home from work, whether it's 6:30pm or 11:30pm, it's the same ritual. I drop my purse next to the door and drape my jacket over the kitchen chair. My shoes get flung into the general direction of the hallway--because it would take too much time to walk the 5 steps to put them in the hallway closet. Then with great anticipation, I plop onto the ever sinking well of cushions on the right side of our couch and begin watching a saga of all my favorite TV shows.

When we bought Tivo, we gave into the illusion that it would save us time watching TV. True, we don't waste time browsing through channels or sitting through commercials, but we still spend plenty of time watching the boob tube. With our flashy fast forward button, we can cram in 2 episodes of Seinfeld, 1 episode of the Office, 2 episodes of Spice up my Kitchen and all of ESPN's top plays in just one hour! Which of course means that we can spend the rest of the night doing something productive... like watching Mythbusters, 18 Kids and Counting, 2 episodes of Cake Boss, and a little bit of Dirty Jobs before it's too late to keep our eyes open.

I know what you're thinking. How pathetic! Especially with all the household chores that need to get done and the other busy things going on in our lives, how could we ever justify using all our spare time for TV?

In all honesty, I think being a couch potato is a pretty good way to spend my time these days. First off, watching TV helps me forget about all the stresses at work. It gives me a chance to recoup from some very exhausting days. Plus, I usually get to cuddle up with Jeremy while watching the tube. Who can resist that?

I've actually been surprised at how bonding of an experience watching TV with Jeremy has become. The pause button is another great Tivo feature that has allowed us to laugh, comment, discuss, agree, debate, and learn about what we are watching. It has also allowed us to learn from each other's interests. You'd be pretty impressed with how much I know about football and baseball now and how much Jeremy knows about redecorating houses. All thanks to our beloved Tele.

Another great thing about watching with Tivo is that we don't have to put up with any mucky shows or commercials. We're able to get plenty of uplifting shows like one of my favorites: 18 Kids and Counting. After each episode, I'm super motivated to be more family oriented, to share the gospel and to be grateful for Jeremy and my family. We love watching Mythbusters and Planet Earth 'cuz we actually learn so much about science and nature. We even started making homemade cakes to keep our mouths from watering during new episodes of Cake Boss.

Sure, there might be many more productive things we could be doing during the week. But sometimes there isn't anything quite as enjoying after a hard day of work as getting bundled up on the sofa with my spouse, a bowl of popcorn, and that trusty remote control. Ooh! Turn it up, the Colbert Report is on!

In the Spirit of Thanksgiving

Back to Normal, I Think!

Well, it's been a month since my last post. I tried writing a post a few weeks ago, entitled "Show Time = No Time," but ironically, I didn't have time to finish it.

A brief summary of our crazy life:

• Zach and Allison got married and we went to a couple of their receptions in Idaho and Sacramento. We are so happy for them!!

• While we were in Idaho, I got to see my cousins Branden and Jeff!

• I wrote and directed the 1st Grade Musical that debuted Oct 29. It was adorable and had a Halloween drumming theme.
• Amid the preparationgs for the 1st Grade Musical and the wedding stuff, I was rehearsing for a church Broadway Review that performed Nov 5-13. I was Gisselle from Enchanted in one of the songs and tap danced in another song! This meant Saturday rehearsals all day and Tues and Fri night rehearsals for nearly 2 months. I got sick during the middle of the performances and still managed to sing without a speaking voice.
• Then, I went to Missouri to visit my friend Deadawn and her six beautiful children during the weekend of Nov 13-15.

• As soon as I got back, I directed the 4th Grade Musical and Narrative Mime on Nov 18. The owner's son of the school said it was one of the BEST performances in the school's history.
• Oh yeah, the day before that, one of the after-school classes that I teach ended with a bang. My Drum Circle students jammed out with their parents and siblings on all of our African drums and instruments.
• On Nov 19, I ended Creative Dance Class with an awesome performance of my JK-3rd students dancing their hearts out in front of their parents. I was showered with an unexpected plethera of flowers and leis after the performance. I admit, that felt good to know I'm appreciated.
• Just when you think things were calming down, it was the end of the trimester, so I scrambeled to complete all the grades for each of my classes. I stayed at the school every night last week until 10:30pm, some nights 11:00pm. (note- I wasn't doing grades that whole time. I was also doing stuff with all the performances)
• And I took a group of my 4th graders to the Barnes & Noble Book Fair for another performance this past weekend.

So that's what I've been up to.

I'm not exactly sure what Jeremy has been doing, but I know that he has been working late nights, too. (Late for him is about 7:00 pm). And he's worked a few Saturdays this month, too. This goes to show that his promotion has given him a lot of new challenges and responsibility. I'm really proud of him.

I was able to go on a date with Jeremy on Friday. We saw Blindside, which was fun because both of us have listened to the book. We were joking on our date that we have been so busy in our own working worlds that we could both be having an affair without the other person knowing! We're glad that things are calming down a little now. Luckily, I planned to not have any school performances in December- wasn't that smart? So things should be fairly normal for a while. I cannot wait to have Saturday and Sunday back again.

Which brings me to a few things I am thankful for on Thanksgiving Day:

• Free time on Saturdays and Sundays
• No where to go on Thanksgiving. I know MomR and MomZ might get offended by that, but seriously, it a blessing to not be traveling this week. I get to see my husband!!
• Living near the beach during winter
• Wholesome Choice- it's the best international food market you've ever been to. We've been getting our meals from there lately as we've had no time to cook or grocery shop.
• Jeremy. I know he loves me so much because he has filled in so many of my responsibilities these past 2 months with only a "peep" of complaint. Okay, so the peep was a long venting session, but it was still done very lovingly. He really is so patient with me and the frustrating situations we've been in, which were mostly due to my own weaknesses. Honey, I promise I'll start using my planner- eventually.
• Clean bathrooms and kitchens. Ours aren't clean right now and haven't been for a while, but I've learned that I really like it when they are clean.
• Tivo. It's so nice to come home after a 15 hour day of teaching and working and calling and grading and planning and painting sets and moving instruments and making flyers and just being able to plop on the couch with a cozy husband and watch any of our fav shows on demand.
• The gospel and Heavenly Father. You can't make a thankful list without mentioning the most important thing! And it's because of Him that I still have my head on- it might not be on straight, per say, but it's still on!!

A Week in the Life of SarahLynn and Jeremy

I decided to track exactly how we have been spending our time this past week, as our lives seem to be whizzing by with near insanity. We have been out of town the past two weekends in a row for our brother Zach and Allison's wedding and receptions. They were sealed in the temple for time and all eternity and we are so happy for them!

We are also glad to be home this weekend to sort of get our lives back on track. Here's how it went starting with a little over a week ago:

Friday, Oct 16
6:00 am Wake up
6:45 Leave for work. Haha, Jeremy has to lock the door, cuz I got out before him!
7:10 Jeremy arrives at work. He sits at the desk all day.
7:20 SL arrives at work. She spends the day running around, setting up and putting down for different lessons, teaching 5th grade to 1st grade to 5th grade to 2nd grade to Kinder to Junior High (in that order!) All of which involve singing, dancing, stretching, and being very dramatic.
12:00 SL sits down for the first time since being in her car. Jeremy goes to the gym to work out.
4:30pm SL races to her rehearsal for the church production in a few weeks.
5:00 Jeremy comes home. Starts laundry and dinner.
5:30 SL comes home to grab something to eat. She sits to watch a few minutes of TV.
7:00 We start packing.
9:00 SL leaves for tap rehearsal.
10:30pm SL gets home. She helps Jeremy clean the house for a guest that will be staying at our place while we're gone.
1:15 am We finally finish cleaning the house. (It hadn't been cleaned for 2 weeks, so it took a while)

Saturday, Oct 17
4:00 am Wake up
4:15 Start driving to Sacramento. Jeremy drove. SL slept.
8:00 SL starts driving.
10:53 Arrive at church in Citruis Heights. Start helping Mom Z with setting up for Zach's reception.
12:30 pm Go out to Adalberto's with Zav family. VERY fun and yummy.
4:00 Start cutting food for reception. I only sliced one thumb and jabbed one finger the whole time!
6:30 Get spruced up for reception.
7:00 Stand in reception line. Smile a lot. Nudge Jeremy to remind him to introduce me to people.
8:45 Disban reception line. Scramble to get the last bit of scraps from the food table. And the yummy soft serve icecream from the machine.
9:15 Sit down.
9:45 Start cleaning reception up.
12:00 am Sit in room to watch Zach and Allison open presents.
1:10 Leave the church.
1:25am Go to sleep.

Sunday, Oct 18
9:30 am Wake up
11:00 Go to church
2:00pm Go to Zavoral home. Eat and have a party!!!
6:00 Start the drive home.
12:30am Get home.
12:45 Go to sleep.

Monday, Oct 19
6:00 Wake up.
8:30 SL Works frantically to get lesson plans turned in before 8:00. She got them in by 3:00. Spend every possible moment in between classes to run to make more copies, answer that one email, create a parent letter, answer West Music's phone call, make a worksheet, set up for the next class, etc.
12:00 pm No time for lunch.
3:20 Last class ends.
5:00 pm Leave the school. Get stuff for Jeremy's b-day.
5:30 Kid nap Jeremy. Take him to the beach, exquipped with tent, food and blankets.
6:00 Watch the sunset. Enjoy the fire.
7:00 Cuddle in the tent.
7:35 Beach Police pull up and flash lights into our tent. Apparently you can't have tents on the beach. Oops!
8:30 Come home. Watch TV.
9:30 Go to bed.


Tuesday, Oct 20 - Happy Birthday Jeremy!! You're finally as old as me.
6:15 am Wake up
Another busy filled day. Stressing to catch up!
12:00pm Only 30 minutes for lunch. I spend it working with a JH student on his singing.
3:30 After school drum circle class.
4:30 More planning.
6:00 pm Reluctantly leave the school. Still so much to do.
6:30 Tap dance rehearsal for the stake show.
8:00 Arrive at home. Too tired to cook. Eat a bowl of cereal.
8:15 Watch Seinfeld.
9:00pm Exhausted. Go to sleep.

Wednesday, Oct 21
6:00am Decide to sleep in.
6:45 Wake up. Ah! I'm late.
7:55 Arrive at school late.
8:30 First class. Teach all day.
12:00 Spend my lunch working with 4th graders for an upcoming show.
3:30pm Begin after school voice tutoring.
5:15 Sit down for the first time. Breathe.
5:20 Try to plan. Hard to do on an empty stomach.
6:30 Leave to get In& Out Burger.
7:00 Return to school for more planning.
9:00pm Leave the school.
9:30 Crash into bed.... Oh yeah... hi Jeremy!

Thursday, Oct 22
I'm too tired to finish the week. On this day I had an hour and 15 min lunch, but it was all spent helping more JH students with their solos for the musical.

My after school class started at 3:30. It's called Creative Dance, so I got a very good workout.

I started planning and doing real work at 5:00pm. Left school at 8:30pm, I think.
Scarfed down some yummy rasselberry pie and a few chease sticks. Not the healthiest meal, but it's better than nothing. Watched a bit of TV before going to bed.

Friday, Oct 23
Much like Thursday, except I left work at 4:30 to go with Jeremy to his work social thingy. The next day I remembered that I had a rehearsal during this time that I was supposed to be at! Drat!

Saturday Oct 24- Baby Sis, Tanya's 18th Bday!!
I got to sleep in until 8:30!!

This day was mostly spent at the church with more rehearsals for the upcoming show. I also managed to plan 1/2 of this week's lessons which are due Monday morning at 8:00. I was going to work at the school, but got too tired.

Sunday, Oct 25
Today was awesome. I got up at 5:45am and cleaned the kitchen, started cooking meals for the week, and prepared my Sunday school lesson for church. I woke up extra early so that I will be tired right about now (8:45pm). I want to be able to get to school tomorrow no later than 6:30am because I am SO behind.

This week, the biggest event will be the first grade musical on Thursday. I hope I don't forget about it amidst everything else there is to do!! Wish me luck!!

ps- I am well aware that I stopped talking about Jeremy around Tuesday of this week. That's to help document how horribly immersed I am in my own job/carreer. I realize this is a problem and I am trying to work on it. Let me just celebrate in the fact that I remembered to plan something to do for his b-day and we had a lot of fun.

Yeah for Jeremy!

On Friday, Jeremy accepted another job promotion!! His new title is Customer Executive. That means he will be in charge of selling all Hormel grocery and meat products to Stater Brothers, a popular grocery chain in Southern California. We are excited about the pay increase and the amount of responsibility he will have.

Luckily, there is no job re-location, so we will stay right here in Huntington Beach! This job means that we will be living in this area for a couple of years. Which is great news for my career. I get to teach at the same school for a while!!! We might start looking to buy a home soon, too.

We know that this is a huge blessing from our Heavenly Father. Jeremy's boss had his eye out for Jeremy to take this position. Jeremy was told that his integrity and hard work ethic is what set him apart. I am so proud of him!!

Ever since we moved here, we've wondered when the time would be to get transferred to Minnesota- because that still is the long term plan for Jeremy's career. Well, now we can see that the Lord definitely wants us here in SoCal for a while. I guess there are still people for us to influence and be influenced by and things to learn and do. We hope to do our part so that we can benefit from all that God has in store for us.

Just Thinking

Thought 1-True Friends
Our Sunday school lesson today was about being true friends. We read a quote by Joseph Smith where he praised his dearest friends because they had stood by him in adversity AND stood true to their faith in the gospel. What an interesting thought- that one may be a true friend by being true in the gospel.

I really think this is true. As we draw closer to Heavenly Father, we become more Christlike. Our abilities to love and care for our friends will increase because we have the Spirit with us more. How neat to think that I can be a better friend simply by living the gospel more faithfully.

Is it a wonder, then, that my dearest friends are ones who have always stood firm in the faith of the Gospel of Jesus Christ? I think not! Here are just a few of the friends that have touched my life for good. I hope I can be as wonderful to them as they have been to me!Kisha, Jine, and MeganDeadawnBrooke
Debi and Laura
Chelsea and Ryan
Mom
Cammie (Malee!)
Stacy Lynn

Thought 2- Twitter Shmitter
Does anyone really use twitter? I still have not met a single person that actually uses twitter for personal reasons. My work is trying to get us to use twitter to advertise school events as they happen, and I can see the merit to that. Other than that, it seems like twitter is just a big fad in the media. All the talk show hosts, news anchors and sitcom stars use it, but to my knowledge, not the average person. Am I right?

Thought 3- Gossip
When I was in high school, I thought that gossiping was just a juvenile thing, that once I graduated, gossiping would be a thing of the past. Boy, have I learned otherwise. Jeremy and I are realizing that grown-ups are even worse about gossiping than kids. At Jeremy's office, it seems like people are always talking about how annoying or weird certain individuals are. Those one or two people get the brunt of every joke. And Jeremy is always caught in the middle of it, not sure how to change the subject, wishing he wasn't even in the room to be a part of it. Too bad he can't move his desk.

The same kind of thing happens at church, in our families, and among the teachers at my school, of which I have alluded to in an earlier post. It's so ridiculous and disappointing and ugly! It makes me sick. I've made a firm commitment to not be a part of any gossip anymore, anywhere. I never want to be the cause of another person's hurt feelings.

Has it been easy? Not really, but I'm finding, as always, that when I seek the Lord's help to be more loving, it is easier to think positively. But the adversary is nearby. As I've striven to only speak positively of others, I somehow notice more of the side conversations that take place in the teacher's lounge and corners of the halls. And sometimes I find myself tempted to join in, or to mention a frustration about someone to another co-worker. Wow. It's just so perplexing that this would be a challenge for us in adulthood!

Wait. Does it count as gossip if you vent to your husband about someone? Hmm.

Line Up, Please!

The first week of school was great! I had a ton of fun with every class. I teach Jr Kinder, Kinder, grades 1-5 and JH choir. That's about 500 students in 19 classes. Since I teach at a private school, my class sizes average at about 17!! Piece of cake! It's funny to hear the veteran teachers who have never taught in public schools complain about a class with 24 kids. They have no idea.

The most worthy thing to note about the week is that I have forgotten what Kindergartners are like at the beginning of the year. How do I say this politely? They are completely delinquent in absolutely everything you would think is easy to do! I mean, really! They can't sit still to save their lives, they can't wait for you to finish even one sentence (or an 8 measure song), and they have no concept of walking in a line.

What happens is the teacher asks for the kids to line up. This results in a swarm of children around their hive...er... teacher. So then the teacher tries to choose one person to be the start of the line and show the kids which direction the line will end up. Now we have three lines in 4 different directions.

When the teacher finally gets all of the kids in a somewhat unified conglomeration, the next challenge is to get all the children to face the same direction. You can try singing, saying "1,2,3, eyes on me," and jumping up & down like a clown, but you will still have 4 kids who have no idea that you are even at the head of the room trying to get their attention. So the teacher must physically move their bodies to face the front.

The next challenge is to start moving the line in a forward direction. The teacher walks backwards, beckoning the first child in the line to follow her. The kid only gazes into space, transfixed on the beaded necklace around the teacher's neck. "Follow the person in front of you!" "Keep facing the front!" But to no avail. If she is lucky, the teacher will get the first child to walk forward, leaving everyone else behind. Finally, one child notices that the teacher is moving forward and starts to walk. But that kid was fifth in line and doesn't wait for the others to go. Once again, there is a human blob in the doorway of the classroom, spilling into the hallway, resulting in virtually no progress from what began 7 minutes earlier.

Expect about a month to master exiting the room. Then another 3 or 4 for the children to test every law of physics by sauntering through the halls in zigzag motions, walking backwards, tracing their fingers on and bumping into every wall, finding microscopic pieces of trash on the ground, starting at the end of the line at point A and ending up three people from the front at point B, tripping over their own feet, kicking, poking, teasing, arguing and falling over each other. Seriously, no exaggeration. I am a witness to these true events of the past week!

How we underestimate the patience required to teach our little ones! Even though they struggle to focus on my instructions, the moment that I sing and move, the children are all fixed on what I am doing. Reaching these little people through the power of music and movement is exactly why I chose this career. I love it! And I love them.

Back to School

This Tuesday is the first day of school. It is really exciting, but there's a lot of stress and anxiety too. The first week is crucial to the success of the year, so no pressure or anything, right? Luckily, I know nearly all of the students I will have. It is going to be so neat to see the same groups of students that I've taught before. What a treat that music specialists have!

I've got my new room all ready, which is a soundproof studio that already existed on campus. Finally we will be able to make music as loud as we want!! No cares about anyone hearing us. Our brand new African drums line the walls, my stuffed animals and songbooks color up the space, and my bulletin boards are ready for new melodies and rhythms to be added by the children. And I've also got 4 grade levels of lessons planned- just a few more grades to go. Ah!

There is one thing that I am not looking forward to, though. That's being misunderstood. Already, in my short career of teaching (this is my 3rd year since graduation) I have witnessed the sad politics and gossip and stupid competition that occurs among teachers and other colleagues in education. For the most part, the teachers that I've worked with in all of my teaching jobs have been fantastic. They are driven to help children and love what they do. And I have had some amazing teammates throughout the years (like Laura, Debbie and Cammie, to name a few).

But it's those 2 or 3 teachers or administrators that can literally destroy one's passion and love for teaching- if one lets them. I'm learning that most of the political crap & gossip among teachers happens due to pride and simply an unwillingess to understand. That's what I hate the most about life right now- being misunderstood.

So I am just trying to take all of the unfriendly, humiliating and downright coniving encounters that I have had with these people in good measure. I've got to just chalk it up as experience, to try to forgive and understand, to be patient, full of charity. And literally rely on Heavenly Father for strength so that my fiery flame for making a difference in the lives of children is not squelched by the pessimistic few.

I have faith that if I rely on the Lord to magnify my talents, and if I am humble, somehow I will figure out a way to deal even with the most difficult of people.

Puerto Rico!

We celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary by going to Puerto Rico for two weeks! WOW. It was amazing! No, we didn't stay cooped up in a resort the whole time (we actually never stayed in a real hotel!). Instead, we saw the country like real travelers, roughing it with 4 days of clothes, riding the publicos, and even spending a few nights in a cabin with no electricity or running water!!

During the trip, I kept two journals. One is of our daily activities and how fun they were. The other journal was a tiny, yellow notepad that we kept in our backpack everyday. We kept lists of the food we ate and the wildlife that we saw. I think it will be more fun to read that, as the lists tell the story of how we hopped from guesthouse to guesthouse, town to town and island to island doing a number of awesome activities. Many of the food and animals described below can be found in our slideshow!

Puerto Rico 2009 Slideshow

Wildlife Sightings
Roosters- Heard in San Juan, Fajardo, El Yunque and Culebra. Ah! They woke us up at 3:30 every morning and would not stop until noon!!

Gecko- little ones all over the walls in Francisco's neighborhood in San Juan. We arranged ahead of time to stay in his extra bedroom in the city.

Crab- about the size of a bar of soap, walking sideways on the grass area in El Morro (Spanish castle in Old San Juan). He was very far from home and really scared of us.

Biting ants- we discovered these while napping on the grass at El Morro. Ouch! Also found while I was stuck in the mud, right on top of an ant hill in the rain forest.

Snail with a flat, seashell looking shell- at Phillips' Cabin in El Yunque (the rainforest)

Lizards- hundreds everywhere in El Yunque, Culebra island, and Vieques island. Brown, green, about 6 inches long.

Large lizards- blackish blue, 12-15 inches long, cylindrical looking.

Snake- brown, at waterfalls in El Yunque. 2 1/2 feet long.

Iguana- yellow body, green and black striped tail, orange legs, off-white spikes, yellow face. 4ft long or more, swimming in waterfall pool with us in El Yunque. Yikes! He even dove off of the rocks into the waterfall pool.

Coque (coo-kee)- Little frogs, 50-cent size, light tan, almost transparent, make a coo-kee sound. We found one in the outdoor toilet at Phillips Cabin. National Geographic said that the area around Phillips Cabin is the most populated area of tree frogs in the whole world. We know it's true because we could hardly sleep at night- they were SO loud!!

Butterflies- black and blue, yellow, and a tiny, tiny orange one, all in El Yunque.

Mysterious Animal- either a ferret, mole or mongoose. Brownish gray. Sighted in El Yunque.

Paloma bird- gray body, blue head, yellow around the eyes. Redish beak. Endangered. Seen at the restaurant called La Paloma.

Moth- tinier than your pinkey fingernail. Purple wings, yellow tip, sighted at dinner in La Paloma, one of the restaurants in the mountains of El Yunque.

Mosquitos- seen at Casita Zumbador, a guest house in El Yunque. But we had absolutely NO mosquitos at Phillip's cabin, a few miles up the rain forest mountain where most of the coques live.

This is supposed to be a highway, but the jungle has taken over!
Sea Turtles- Beautiful tan and green designs. About 14'' pizza size. Two were sighted while scuba diving in Fajardo. Then we sighted a Hawk's Bill Sea Turtle (endangered) while snorkeling in Vieques.

Conk Shell that was alive!! Sighted while scuba diving. Jeremy reached out to touch it, but our instructor said (in scuba language) "No! It will stab you!"

Checkered Fish- 6-8'' long. Auburn and gray checks. Scuba diving. This was my favorite fish.

Arrow crab- very deliquette. Body was dime size and literally the shape of an arrow. Legs were about 4'' long, as thin as your hair. Our scuba instructor found it for us on our first dive!

Two sting rays- one off of Puerto Del Re while scuba diving. One snorkeling at Zoni Beach on Culebra.

Tiny bird- yellow belly, navy wings, straw nest with opening on bottom. Seemed to eat nector from flower tree that it nested on. Culebra Casita Tropical (our guest house on Culebra).

Stray Sheep- "baaa"-ing at us while we were on our golf cart expedition in Culebra.

Huge Fish- 4-6ft long, gray, hanging out at the dock next to our table at the restaurant called Dingy Dock. We fed them our croutons.

The UGLIEST Pigeon Ever- mangled hair, missing toe, eating bread at the b-fast place next to the Fajardo ferry dock. (What allows those birds to survive all the grease and grime of the city anyway?) All of the beaches were gorgeous and remote like this beach. On Zoni and Secret Beach, we were all alone for hours!!
Wild Horses- grazing in open areas, huddled under trees, crossing the streets at their own leisure, eating people's flowers and grass, on Vieques. Later we found out that these horses are really only semi-wild because they all have owners. The islanders find it's easier to let the horses go wherever they want to than it is to groom and house them. Whenever they want to ride their horse, the owners just call for it and look around for it. The owners will always claim their horse if someone else tries to ride them, but no one claims the horses that are found eating away at the neighbor's flowers!

Centipede- 8 inches long, ½ inch diameter, squiggly and snake-like movements, blackish brown. Jeremy saw it doing laundry at Esperanza Inn, Vieques.

Sideways walking crab- peach-yellow body and legs, white claws. Spotted at Secret Beach, Vieques.

Mongoose- brown, round and fat, maybe 16’’ with it’s flat tail, seen at Plata Beach, Vieques.

Dino flagellates- micro-organisms that live in water and glow in the dark when the water is agitated. They make a greenish-blue glow with the same chemicals that fireflies have. It was soooo amazing to swim in the water and see all the glowing!! When they got on our arms, it looked like pixie dust! We did this two nights in a row, once via electric boat, once on kayaks.

Starfish- orange, some the size of Jeremy’s hand. Vieques.

Bat- brownish, flying overhead our truck from the biobay where the dinoflagellates were.

Puerto Rican Quisine
Mofongo- mashed, green plantains stuffed with meat. Dressed in onions and olive oil.

Amarillos- sweat, yellow plantains. Fried slowly to softness. My absolute favorite of the whole trip!

Tostones- mashed and fried plantains. Kind of like thick chips, and kinda like French fries.

Stuffed Avocado- whole avocado with chicken mixed with mayo on top. Above- this is the best meal we had. A little old lady in Old San Juan cooked it for us.

Sofrito Bean Sauce- bell peppers, garlic, cilantro, pinto beans, water, ricoa. The beans were always served in a little bowl separate from the rice.

Pastelillos- turnovers with meat and cheese inside. Fried. Very yummy.

Pasteles- corn bread stuffed with cheese and fried. Not very good. It was sticky and too creamy.
Snapper fish- the whole thing. Island style.

Chimichurri- yummy salsa with mangos to put on your meat.

Coconut Cake- delish! I don't know if it's really Puerto Rican, but it was home-made on Culebra.

Good Ol' Carolina Hospitality

Today, I am writing this post in a cute guest house on a Carribean island called Vieques, Puerto Rico. You'll hear more about that later because I need to tell you about our trip to the Carolinas.

Two weeks ago, on our way to Puerto Rico, we had an extended lay-over trip in Charlotte, North Carolina- for 3 days!! We couldn't resist the opportunity to stay with our best married friends, The Beachamps. (reminder- Jeremy and Ryan became good friends while being RA's at BYU. After Ryan and Chelsea got married, they moved into our apt complex where the 4 of us developed a life-long friendship).

Being with the Beachamps in North and South Carolina was SO much fun. Chelsea and Ryan are such great examples to us. They are so strong in the gospel. They pray together, talk kindly to each other and just bouie us up all the time! As soon as we got there, I was so uplifted by being with them and in their home. I was really sad when the time came so quickly for us to go!

We got to meet their new baby son, Elijah, who is almost 6 months old! He is such a sweet, happy baby with a tender, aware disposition. Oh my goodness, he is so cute! Jeremy and I had a lot of fun playing with him. One day, he was just cooing "eh" for hours and smacking his lips and laughing at himself, having a ball. He is really long and lean like his parents, and he has the most honest eyes. And cute rolls of skin in the funniest places! We tried taking Elijah home with us, but Chelsea would not allow it!

During our visit, we were spoiled with Carolina hospitality. Chelsea and Ryan took us to see two Revolutionary War sights- Cowpens was one of them. I was in heaven! Everything was lush, green, humid and full of history. Beautiful, educational, and humbling- although we look pretty proud in this picture, I promise we were very awed and amazed by the battles and sacrifices that were made to establish our wonderful country. We even had a moment of silence to remember them.

We ate at a real Southern BBQ place with friendly, funny people. All four of us tried Cheerwine for the first time. (don't worry folks! it's non-alcoholic) It's like rootbear but with a cherry flavor. We also had hushpuppies (I didn't even know they existed!) and red cole slaw.

The NASCAR family fun center was a blast. We went go-carting in pretend nascars!! Chelsea got way into it, which was funny since she had a traumatic experience go-carting when she was younger. But she got over that real fast!

Church was awesome. Just to sit next to the Beachamps again during the sacrament service again was cool. Chelsea taught a wonderful lesson in Relief Society for the ladies, and I got to hold Elijah the whole time. We ate Calzone that afternoon with the missionaries and played games, watched Elijah's birth video (amazing!), walked through the house that Ryan and Chelsea are building (how cool is that!?) and talked and talked and laughed and talked all night... while Ryan fell asleep on the floor. Poor guy.

We (at least me) really liked being in the green and humid Carolinas. It is way more humid in the Carolinas than it is down here in Puerto Rico- even including the rainforrest. And I loved it! We also enjoyed how everyone in North and South Carolina was so nice and friendly, esp at the airport! That's the nicest airport experience I've ever had! We can't wait to go there again...or maybe even live there someday! Who knows?