I have been wanting to update...but I got a little sidetracked...
My friend Julie and I are dorks. it's official- and we are proud. so proud that we made t-shirts to attend the Breaking Dawn Release Party at Borders. I totally had a blast with her! ha! ha!
Her shirt says: "I'm in the Twilight Zone" and mine says "can someone feed my child? I'm reading Twilight."We won buttons. It rocked. Not to mention that we got to be some of the 1st proud oweners of this:
yep... that's what I look like at 1:00am. If I am up that late I am usually a spaz as most of my friends and family are aware. I stayed up until 4:00am reading... My dad... I mean Derek had to come out and get me and tell me to get to bed. Well... as of yesterday I am finished and I acctually really enjoysed the story despite mixed reviews. no spoilers spilled- but I liked where she went with it and I thought she was super creative. I really am one of those dorks who blogs about Twilight aren't I? hmm...Ok... in more important news... Puerto Rico was a total TOTAL ONCE- in-a-lifetime b.l.a.s.t.!!! I can't believe I did that...wow. I am really happy I want and also a little sad it's over. We had so much fun and it was really one of the best weeks of my life. First off- thanks so much to the Lofgrans for being the best family ever and making us feel so welcome and at home... we really couldn't ask for better friends- you guys kick butt!!! Also thanks to Adam Taylor who gave us the opportunity to go by flying us there with his stand bye tickets- we really have the best friends in the world!
Although flying standby made it possible for us to go... it certainly added an element of stress and anxiety. luckily we were so blessed and go on every flight and even got to fly home FIRST CLASS!!! Wahoo for that!!!
WE had so many great experiences- it was so great to get out of the airport and have our friends there to greet us! Gotta love reunion hugs- right? Then off to Aquatica we went... this is where the Lofgrans had been living for the past three months during optometry rotations. Just picture paradise and that pretty much sums it up. Seven Pools, beach front property, lots of other things we didn't even use such as a mini golf course and clubhouse... it was wonderful. The boys swam and we just hung out and decompressed the first couple days. I read an entire book.(Austinland...great quick fun read) I also tried (and failed) to do my hair curly. man- humidity. words can't express how it cramps your style. so we just pretty much partied for 8 days straight... we went to a movie and then Adam watched the boys while Megan and I had a girl- day in "Old San Juan". Megan almost choked to death at lunch... but I saved her life not with the Heimlich but with pure evil "you are really choking aren't you- that's hilarious" laughter. This place is a photographers DREAM. Oh to have better lenses and more skills... but I still got some beautiful pictures. This place was awesome. SO much architecture and history unlike anything I've ever seen. It was beautiful.
We also took the boys for a hike through the El yunque Rain forest... actually two hikes. The first was a pretend hike to nowhere (thanks again Megan) and the second was a beautiful hike to a waterfall where we let the kids swim. there were hundreds of people there and it was CRAZY!!! but so beautiful. I have a whole new appreciation for humidity and the earths many ecosystems.
we took a ferry ride out to an island called Culebra... not sure why I didn't take too many pictures this day... I was too busy swimming I guess. And fearing for my life in the taxi-bus with the door that was held closed with a bungee cord. I tried to take Eaton snorkeling which resulted in him being scared and dropping the snorkel gear and me having to dive 10 times to the bottom of the ocean to get it. Every time I went down it was JUST out of my reach and when I came back up for air Easton was drifting in with the current. Do that 9 times and you know what you get? A Charley horse and a four-year-old who doesn't want to snorkel any more. It is funny looking back... but it was frustrating at the time. Anyways... when we went back in there was a huge school of fish and we had a great time feeding them and letting them swim around us. Talk about cool.
We got a girls night with Megans mother-in-law and saw Mamma mia- which was very funny and better than I anticipated. Then it seems like it went so fast. I had to start packing for home and that was a bummer. Funny story about my last night there: Adam and his mom accidentally let an iguana into the house and we tried to set bait for it and catch it all day to no avail. Well, I packed up and was all set to go and when I went into my room for the night the nasty green mean looking thing was ON TOP OF my SUITCASE. Yay! Just what I want as a souvenir. It really scared me and it was all I could do not to scream. I mad Adam come catch it and luckily we were able to this time. Whew- I have to say I had a hard time falling asleep though. It gave me the heebie jeebies.
Peurto Rico is so beautiful. It's a little sad that the people don't take better care of it. I feel so blessed that I was able to take this trip... it isn't exactly the season of our life to be world travelers... I felt like I got to bond with Easton in a really special way and it was great to see him so happy with his friends. Porter and Jackson had really been more like brothers to him and we have really missed them since they moved away. There was one night in particular when everyone else went in to be and just Easton and I were swimming and he was floating on his back and we started talking about the stars and why Heavenly Father made them and having a really heart felt moment. I was just so filled with love for my little boy and the opportunity we had to experience this together. I hope he remembers pieces of our trip and the experience we had together. It truly was amazing.
