Our next olympian

Here are some pictures of Bryn diving!  She is getting so good at it, and she loves to keep practicing!

The end of a good thing is just a beginning to something better

We left Salt Lake City before kindergarten was over for Bryn.  It was all okay, because we got here and she just jumped right back in with no set backs or hesitations.  She was in Kindergarten, however because the classes are all so small, she was also with the Pre-Kindergarten.  Her Teacher was Mrs. Cools, and there were about 8 kids in her class combined between the two grades.  Bryn has loved her class and all her friends.  That is two of Bryn's many talents is to make friends very quickly and to be able to adjust easily to changes.  

Well Thursday was the last day of school.  Bryn was a little sad, because she didn't realize there would be something to replace school everyday!  SUMMER CAMP!!!!

She goes from 9-3 everyday and they just have fun.  Everyday when they get there they play games, sing, and do computers.  After that they have a daily activity.  Monday is science, Tuesday is cooking, Wednesday is field trips, Thursday is arts and crafts, and Friday is sports.  We still have lunch with her at noon and after that until 3 they go to the swimming pool.  Friday was her first day and she LOVED it!  

Kyler didn't think that was very fair that she got to go to the pool when he had to go home and have a nap, but we all went after we picked Bryn up and after his nap, so I think that made up for it, at least for friday.  

I also got Bryn's report card on Thursday and she had straight A's!  All of her teacher's comments were how good of a student she was and how fast she caught on to things.  She said that Bryn was ready for a lot harder reading, and that she should practice writing stories all summer.  Which shouldn't be hard since she loves to read, and write stories.  I think it also helps that she loves to play "School" as well.

Tagged!

So I have been tagged again!

20 YEARS AGO....

*  I was baptized.

*  I am almost positive that to the day I was doing the "Hay chopper" on Lee.

*  I was probably playing with Tara or Jessica.

10 YEARS AGO...

*  I had just graduated from high school, GO JUAB!!

*  I was living in St. George with Jandi and Amanda.

*  We had just moved into a apartment behind Harmons.

*  I was spending most weekends in Vegas with Jandi at her mom's house. (Thanks Jodi)  If we were not in Vegas we were at the country dance place.

*  I was working at the college.

5 Years ago...

*  Bryn was 1 years old.

*  I was working at the American Red Cross.

*  Erick was in school full time at the University of Utah.

*  We were living in Murray at Vantana Court Apartments, looking for somewhere cheaper.

*  We moved to the university village where we fought sinus infections with Bryn for a year.

*  We spent most of our free time on the playground at the village.

3 YEARS AGO...

*  We took Bryn to Disneyland.  She got to meet most of the princesses!

*  Kyler was born.

*  We still lived in the University Village, only now we were in the 800 Court! (no more Sinus infections!!!)

*  I was no longer working at the Red Cross, now a stay at home mom.

1 YEAR AGO...

*  We were living at Shoreline Ridge.

*  Erick was trying to decide what he wanted to be when he grew up (glad that is behind us)!

*  Bryn started Kindergarten.  She was in Mrs. Scott's class at Wasatch Elementary school. She rode the bus everyday to school.

*  Braden and Rindi were married.

*  Lincoln and Madix were born.

*  We went to Virginia to be there for the blessing of Lincoln, and we left Sunday before church!  

*  Erick was accepted to Ross University Medical School.

SO FAR THIS YEAR...

*  I have moved to the Caribbean.

*  I have been snorkeling almost everyweek since we got here.

*  I have been chased by a barracuda.

*  I have survived 2 days without water.

*  I have switched to a mac computer, which I love!

*  Bryn and Kyler are both in school and they love it.

*  Erick is loving Medical School.

*  Joye and Taylor were born (though I haven't seen them yet!)

YESTERDAY...

*  I went to church.

*  I made dinner.

*  I watched Pride and Prejudice with Bryn.  (She loved it).

TODAY...

*  I went to the gym for the first time here!

*  I warmed up spaghetti for lunch and got to eat it with Bryn, Kyler, and Erick.

*  I finished up a group project for the online class I am taking.

*  I watched it rain ALL DAY!

*  we watched Lion King AGAIN!

TOMORROW....

*  If it stops raining I am going to Roseau with a few friends.

*  If it is still raining I will go to the gym, get a few groceries, make lunch, and watch it rain for another day. :)

*  Tomorrow night we will have the missionaries over for dinner- TACOS!!

I tag:  McKel, Jandi, Jodie, Laura, and Mindy

If I missed any life altering events (or any other events) I am sorry.  I was really trying to remember EVERYTHING!!!  

Friday Phrases

Wow, I can't believe it is already Friday again!  So this week has been really fun.  We went snorkeling on Thursday (this is a tradition) and we didn't really see anything to crazy, but of course it was really fun.  After that we went sailing.  One of my friends is a member of the sailing club so she can take the boats out anytime with two other people.  So we hopped on a sail boat and had so much fun.  I had never been on one before, but it was great.  This morning we had a big breakfast for one of the girls here.  She is leaving next week.  Her husband is a 4th semester, but she is going home to get a place to live and find a job.  So we got together to tell her goodbye.  When I got home from breakfast, I turned on the water to wash my hands and there was no water!  And I am not exaggerating.  Last night we had the biggest rain storm we have see here.  They say they get worse, but it RAINED HARD all night, the power went out, there was so much thunder and lightening, it was crazy.  So I have since found out that when it rains that hard here, the runoff fills the water system which is a lake, with dirty water.  So what they do is turn off ALL the water until it is clean again.  They run the water through a filter system of sorts.  But they have to wait for all the water to run off the mountain and the lake to get clean again before they start filtering it again.  So we had a recalling moment today, the kind you have when the power goes out.  When you think to yourself, "oh the power is out, that's okay, I'll just watch a movie, or I will just warm up leftovers.  Anyway you get the idea, I didn't really think about it, but the toilet won't flush, you can't wash your hands, there is no water to cook with, basically THERE IS NO WATER!!!  So naturally I made a mad dash to Tina's (the grocery store) for water, well looks like everyone else had that same idea, no water.  I ran to another store and luckily they had some.  At the second store I ran into a friend that told me they had gotten a bucket and caught all the runoff from their roof, and that is what they were using for the toilet.  Good idea, who wants to use good drinking water for the toilet???  But then again who wants to catch dirty water for the toilet either.  So I talked to Erick at lunch and he's suggestion was that He and Kyler would just go to the bathroom outside.  Well that doesn't solve my problem, since Bryn and I and not jumping on that boat!  Oh well I am just hoping the water is back on tonight!  Oh and by the way the power and internet have been out a lot here lately and our vonage doesn't work without the internet, just in case you were wondering.

For the week in Phrases:

Kyler:

He learned in church last week to say, "I like Tiger woods"  So sunday when the tournament was on, he watched with Erick and he was YELLING, "I like Tiger Woods,  Go Tiger Woods", and then when he would hit he would yell, "he did it!"  The funny thing was he was saying it for ever golfer on TV.  So Erick taught him that Tiger Woods was the one in the red shirt, only he wasn't the only one is red that day.  A little confusing. 

On Monday night Kyler Prayed, "Please bless my mosquito bites."  It was so cute, because he got eaten alive Sunday night because our power was off so we had the doors open for a little while, and he was not liking all the bites.

Bryn:

She told my dad, "either my teacher is a girl or a boy- because she kind of looks like a boy."  I hope she never tells MRS. Cools that.

Bryn also got eaten alive by mosquitos, and the other day I found her putting medicine on all her bites, she was nervous that she was in trouble, but when I just told her if she needed any help to come get me, she relaxed.  A few minutes later when I couldn't hear Kyler so I went looking for him, I found him in the Dr. Bed being taken care of by nurse Bryn.  She was COVERING his bites with medicine.  When I came in, she said, "I think we need more mom."  The medicine was almost gone.

One Down, Many More To Go.

So Erick is obviously not playing all the time like me and the kids.  In fact most of the time he is in one of two places, the Annex, where all of the 1st semester classes are held, or a PBL room when we can schedule a room that has a dry erase board in, a big desk, and all the plugs you can imagine, plus AC!!!  He basically lives in one of these places.  And it has really paid off.  Last friday he took is first anatomy lab exam, yesterday he took is first mini.  Here a mini is a big exam that includes all the classes he has had up to this point.  There are a certain amount of questions from each subject, and also from each professor.  So it is really intense.  Erick felt really well after both tests, and now we are just waiting to get the scores back.  We are all so proud of Erick for how hard he is working.  He is doing an amazing job.  He loves his classes, he has some great study buddies, and everything is going really well for him.  The next mini is in 4 weeks, so he is already back at the books.  It felt like to me that there needed to be some kind of break after such a big test, but no time for that.  Next mini is in 4 weeks, so hopefully things go just as well on that one.  We love you Erick, and are so proud of you! :)

Friday Phrases

So I am starting something new, every friday I am going to blog a few of the cute, funny, interesting (we get some of them all) things that the kids say during the week.  I don't want to just do a random post everytime they say something, but I don't want to not have them written down.  I do have to tell you my inspiration for this idea.  First of all, everyone is always telling you when your kids do or say something cute, "you have to write that down", well up until now, I have been horrible at keeping any kind of a journal, so there was no where to really write it down until now.  But the real inspiration:  Today after the kids had had lunch, and we were waiting for the bell to go back to class, I was talking to one of my friends who has a son in Bryn's class.  All the kids were on the playground and it was just me and her there.  Her son is her only child, and she was telling me that yesterday he had asked her when she was going to buy him a brother.  She had asked it what he meant, and he had told her that he wanted a brother and wanted to know when she was going to go buy him one.  She asked him if he knew where babies came from, and he told her "yes, you go to the toy store and you pick one out, you buy it and bring it home."  She of course was laughing so hard, and told him there were no toy stores in Dominica.  She said that he had said, "oh yea, well maybe when we get home?" and then not even one minute later he turned around and said, "I know you can order one on the internet!"

I of course told her she needed to write that down and tell him about it some day, and then I thought, I should take my own (and everyone else's) advice and write these things down.  So there you have it.  Friday Phrases.

Bryn:

One day going to school this week, we had to wait for about 2 minutes for a huge backhoe to finish working in the middle of the road before we could go by.  The kids just sat and watched it working, and then all of a sudden, Bryn said, "I am so impressed to see one of those things here."

One night after Kyler finished saying his prayers Bryn said, "Don't make jealous of other peoples prayers.  It doesn't matter if they are long or short, you don't make jealous of them, right?"

Kyler:

We were ready to leave for school one morning, and I had my breakfast in my hand, it was a package of peanut butter cracker sandwiches.  I guess they looked good to Kyler, because he said, "Let me take those, they are so heavy for you mom."

Kyler really likes to be involved in every conversation, the problem is he doesn't like to wait until it is his turn to talk.  So the other day (most days) when Byrn got home from school she was telling me about spiders and everything she was learning about them.  Well Kyler had something very important to say, so he started saying, "NO, NO, NO, guys listen to me!"  I kept reminding him that it was Bryn's turn to talk right now, and he kept saying it over and over until it was finally his turn to talk.  Then he said, "Know what guys?"  We of course said no what, and he then told us a very LONG story about Hyenas and how they were going to get him in two days, and his daddy was going to save him.  (We are really into the Lion King right now).

My little snorkeling Princess

Bryn has always loved to swim and be in the water.  And since we have gotten to Dominica, she has really learned how to swim.  She is doing awesome in the water.  We go to the swimming pool at least 3 times a week and usually more, and she just goes and goes.  

We also got her some snorkel gear for the ocean, and she loves it.  She doesn't go out too far which is just fine with mom, but she can see all kinds of fish.  She is getting better and better at keeping the snorkel out of the water.  The first few times she got a mouth full of SALTY water.  But since then she has learned where to keep her head, so that is doesn't fill up with water.  And I think she just looks so cute when she gets all her gear on :) !

She is loving life here in Dominica and all the fun things we are finding to do.