David's 24th

Last Friday, David and I drove down to Utah to celebrate his 24th birthday with his family.  We got up Saturday morning and opened presents over delicious bagel sandwiches, and then headed off to Lagoon, David's favorite birthday bash location.  

David's favorite present was his new basketball.

This is our second year with the September celebration.  It is a fun weekend because Sydney, David, Chris, and Sarah all have birthdays the same week. 

Sydney brought her friend, Allison to celebrate her sweet 16.

The other little birthday girl.

Bombora, the new surfing themed roller coaster.

The ladybug ride

Caroline rides the Rocket for the first time

Last year, David told Caroline that he would buy her a snow cone if she went on the Rocket with us, but she was still too scared.  This year, she finally went and about an hour after we got off of it, she said, "Hey David!  Now you owe me a snow cone!"  The things kids remember!  The perfect uncle that he is, one tiger's blood snow cone magically appeared.

The boys 

The girls 

Someone thought it would be hilarious to put all the little kids in one log, and put Rob and David in the front of another with Spencer and me behind... 

I ended up wet. David thought this was hilarious.

We ended the festivities with a splash on Rattlesnake Rapids...

very wet. 

We had a fabulous day.  David and I drove home that night, which was nearly impossible.  I was so tired, I couldn't function at all and David was so tired that we had to pull over twice to take a little nap.  We made it home alive by 1:00 AM!  David made it to his stake priesthood meeting the next morning at 7:00.  EEEK!  After church, Garet brought over a cake sponsored by Mom and Jim which was delicious!

I particularly enjoyed Garet's Mr. Rogers sweater. 

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood... 

Happy Birthday, David!

Fall Fun

The past few weeks have been delightful with our favorite Garet staying with us.  We were able to:

• enjoy time at my school moving books and cutting things out, 
• read Hunger Games, 
• go camping with the Millers, Reeds, and Justin and Scott,
• play basketball (and jam a finger),
• watch some great movies,  
• build model rockets
• eat some delicious food (including Brazilian cookie mush...mmmmmmmmm),
• start a new school year, and
• move into the Ridge (Garet)

Check out my first week of school here. :)

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Rexburg Piano Lessons

Come one, come all! We currently have three spaces available for new piano students in Rexburg, Idaho. If you or anyone you know might be interested in taking piano lessons, SPREAD THE WORD! We would like to start at least three new students in the month of January. If more express interest, we will see how we can shuffle the schedule around. We love the students we already have and would love for you to join in the fun. Visit our website rexburgmusic.com (503) 910-7307 or (503) 507-6256

Home

It seems that when one returns to her own country, the need to chronicle her life evaporates slightly. We have been having a splendid summer, nevertheless. We flew into our favorite America on the 1st of August, when I was able to see the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty with my very own eyes (from the airplane). We hopped on a plane from Newark to Houston, where we stayed the night, and finally made it to Utah the next day. Mere hours later, we were seated, with popcorn in hand (thanks to the coolest niece ever, Alyssa), anxiously anticipating the start of the end of all things: Harry Potter 7.2. This was, after all, the obvious first event of our welcome home activities.


The following day, I was able to have several birthday highlights. In the morning, Chanelle, Alyssa and I treated ourselves to delightful manicures and pedicures while David ran errands for me and got our car ready for the long miles we were gearing up to put on it. I got to open some super sweet presents from my favorites and then, after over two years of separation and poor communication, I got to see my brother, Garet! His first words to me were, "Hi sister! You look like a hippie." Apparently my cool peace sign red sun glasses were winners. He made sure the yellow ones were for him. We drove up to Boise and stayed the night at Sam and Andy's. Mom and Jim treated us to Tucanos, which I LOVE!


The next morning, we met up with Jimmy and Vanessa and the JD Bunch made its debut as a family in McCall, Idaho for our first official family reunion (should it just be union since it was the first time?). My favorite part of the trip was the Italian Soda bar mom brought and the Chloraseptic Jim bought me to continually coat my burning throat. The most intense moment was probably when Vanessa lost the purple skittles during the candy bar game. :)






As one reunion came to a close, David and I made our way to Bear Lake to begin another with the Love Bugs. We had a great time out on the lake, lounging in the hammock, eating raspberry ice cream and playing hearts through the night. We finished the trip in Logan at the Martin Harris Pageant and after two and a half months, made our way home to Rexburg. On the way, we made a few stops to do some back to school shopping and ended up with a car piled to the ceiling with delights. (Pictures to be posted soon of the Love reunion.)

Since we have been home, we have been getting back into the swing of things. We have absolutely LOVED:
drinking milk (3 gallons per week!)
having our own bed/sheets/pillows
having our own washer/dryer again
our carpet
being able to stay up and watch movies and sleep in if we want
being able to get up and go to work if we want
seeing our favorite Rexburg friends again
eating free baked potatoes at the Madison County Fair
conducting Sacrament meeting at the retirement home across the street
getting my classroom ready for a new year
learning to use logic to write music
playing basketball and going to Zumba and
just being together in our own space.

In all of the traveling we have done this summer, it has been draining at times to live out of a suitcase and not have a permanent place to call home. But through it all, we have gone each day hand in hand, whether riding in a crowded guagua, strolling on the beach in Cabarete, hiking up waterfalls, walking down the streets of the Callejon, through busy airports, riding bikes around a lake, or simply watching TV while being sick. While we have not had the same house or place, we have always had each other. There is no place or space that could ever replace that home. Wherever David is, I am home.

Camp Love

Camp is winding down. We had one of our final hurrahs tonight at the local Catholic church. We invited the community to come see the kids show off what they have been learning at camp. Despite less than perfect acoustics and a few technical difficulties, it was a great night. It was exciting to see all of the kiddos dressed up and eager to see their counselors and professors in clothes other than the standard blue T-shirt. David led two of the night's acts, one song and one dance. Denae directed an army style alphabet march. It was the bee's knees.

We have really come to love some of these kids. They sure are cuties!

This week, Survivor winner, Parvati Shallows came to the DREAM Project as part of her CBS web special, Around the World For Free. She filmed around our school and the cool monkey jungle we went to a few weeks ago. You can find me in the video twice! :)