Puerto Rico: Church

 I only took one photo from our church experience but it’s a classic 💀.  (Yes, the shirt was buttoned for church, they’re just hilarious.) 

We had a bit of an adventure trying to get to church on Sunday. To start, most of us didn’t pack church clothes. I really don’t know why. We knew we were going. But in the rush of getting out the door on no sleep, we just didn’t. We pulled together our best and  went to church anyway.

After driving the winding roads in the rain forest, we arrived at the spot listed on tools. There was no building. We met a local and got directions that included “it’s next to a big basketball court. (Bc of course it is! Yes! Boys got very excited for post church hoops) 

We wound back through the jungle hills. 

It was a Baptist church. 

We gave one last attempt and drove 25 minutes another direction to a different building. 

We arrived with 15 minutes left of sacrament meeting, but went inside anyway. The open air chapel was full, so we split in 4 directions and sat where we could fit. We heard 3 testimonies and sang I Need Thee Every Hour all in Spanish. This was a great experience. One testimony was so heartfelt, and even though I understood the individual words used, my Spanish  was not skilled enough to piece together the complete story she was telling. We had a lot of empathy for Quincy, who is almost months into her mission and experienced something very similar. The Spirit testified, regardless of our language understanding. 

When the meeting ended, the bishop asked in Spanish at the pulpit if the big family who came in late could stay after for 5 minutes in the chapel. He had 2 young men there and asked them to bless the sacrament again just for us. 

I’ve never seen this happen before, but it was such an act of hospitality.

 They didn’t use a microphone and the bishop stopped the first young man and told him to start over and bless louder. Hearing a 16 year old kid call out “O Dios!” was a reverent experience none of us will forget. 

 We have felt so much love from the locals here.

Church: 10/10 

Church in Puerto Rico: 11/10

 

Puerto Rico:Willy Party of 10

We did a thing and took an adventure. 

Flew in to San Juan, Puerto Rico. Had some delays. Traveling with a party of 10 is a little wild. We played a lot of games and ukuleles in the airport. Rented two cars. Drove 35 minutes to an incredible Airbnb in the rainforest. 

Had a killer time. 

Brogan Appreesh

 We’re hilarious.

A little shout out to Logan Newton, or “Brogan” as most of us call him most of the time. Because he truly is the ultimate Bro. 

These photos aren’t anything special, but my new son in law definitely is. He’s such a great big brother. Logan is FUN. He is full of energy and radiates playful joy. He loves caring for Reese. Not only does Logan love all his new younger siblings, big he loves all their friends. Logan and Reese got Ammon a job at Crumbl and had him over to their house to hang out last night when Corbin and the other YM were at camp. He calls up Scotty and Ryan. He is down to hoop with anyone gathered here. He can yap. He also totally gets my sensory need for a quiet house the 20 minutes right before dinner time and is quick to get the kids outside to offer me a few minutes of a peace in my “office”. I just love him. 

He’s just the best big buddy and I am so happy for the life he and Reese are setting up together. He’s such a good man and the blog needed a “major appreesh” for brogan! 

Girl Day

Sloane was feeling a little bummed out about not going to YW camp this week. Sometimes a Jan 1 birthday feels like a hinderance that levels her “down”.  To remind her that being born in the same calendar year as her little sister doesn’t have to be a bad thing, we had a girls day. Both of them remembered that they love a lot of the same things and 8 months between them really is not a big deal. 

They made the agenda and requested a treat, something grown up, and a visit to see their big sister at work. 

We got smoothies at Jamba Juice (they’d never been).  I told them all about how when I was in high school, the closest Jamba Juice was in Santa Cruz, so my friends and I would stop there when we drove over to the beach. We would park on Pacific Ave, get smoothies, then walk around the little surf shops for Roxy and O’Neil swag and end at lunch at Pizza My Heart. 

For our “somehing grown up” I was given this request on the fly. But I did have errands to run, which felt pretty grown up, and less boring if we were together! 

We went to the distribution center to exchange a church shirt for a different size for Bear, and they picked up a copy of the Articles of Faith in Spanish. I guess Brother Geddes in our ward told the kids that he’ll buy anyone who memorizes them in a 2nd language a candy bar. 

They do not have them memorized in English, but I appreciate their enthusiasm and will always encourage language study in my home. Their poster is now on the wall in their bedroom. 

We also stopped at Ulta for shampoo and took them with me. My mistake! Sloane REALLY wants to wear makeup. I showed them all the zillions of bottles of perfume instead and let them choose one to sample. I’ll encourage smelling good as a makeup adjacent safe launch. My excitement faded when I discovered that the perfume market is marketed for a very young crowd and the little $70 bottles are all shaped like squish mallows and other tween crazed characters. Apparently, the beauty industry has discovered the vulnerability of the tween demographic and is targeting them as well 😭. This stage of adolescence is so tricky to encourage both body positivity and also individual worth. It’s hard for boys, too, but having raised teens of both genders, dang the world is just brutal to girls. 

Don’t grow up too fast, daughters! I just love their mismatched outfits and unruly summer hair.

Reese had cookies waiting for them at crumble and the sisters thought they were coolest meeting Reese’s and Logan’s boss. 

 We also went for a walk downtown and stopped at Tuckaway to borrow something from Mary, check on our bees, and catch London to play. 

Hold Em

My house is so full right now and I wish I could freeze time and hold em all here forever. I love it. 

Last night, Aaron took Bear to the shareholder concert. Bear LOVES One Republic and was super excited. He even wore the tshirt I got when I took Quincy and friends to see them at the amp her sophomore year. 

Aaron and Bear left and the little girls disappeared into a craft upstairs.  I started dinner prep. Reese and Logan came over after work. Ryan came home for dinner.  Ammon came over for a haircut and then he and Corbin casually let me know they invited the priest quorum over for sliders and game 1 Knicks v Spurs. 

I doubled the sliders on the grill. 

Knicks winning. Sensational.

Little girls go to bed. 

Halftime: Hyrum unrolls a poker table mat and deals everyone in. 

Ryan teaches Ammon how to play poker and it takes longer than when he taught Esme and Sloane. 😂

Ryan folds. 

The rest of the boys bet big. All in. 

I wiped that table CLEAN a pair and a straight. 

Good thing it’s only chips. They’d be broke. 

Neal posted this pic on the Sunday school group chat 💀 Don’t gamble kids. 

After the game (Knicks in 6, who’s with me? I want to see manhattan light up with excitement), Ammon, Hyrum, abd Neal went home. Soren went to pack for camp, aaron and Bear went to bed (they came home early, one republic canceled), and the rest of us moved the party upstairs so we wouldn’t keep waking up Aaron. 

Man I love when Corbin is in a funny chatty mood. He doesn’t get silly like this without Quincy very often. She brings out everyone’s crazy size. Reese, Logan and I piled on the daybed and listened to Corbin tell the funniest stories last night. I think we finally called it at 1:30. 

I am loving this stage of life that my kids are in. I know it won’t last forever, but I’m holding on to all the late night laughs this summer! Even if the pretty guest room smells like farts and socks now. 

 

Seal of Biliteracy

 

Love y Libros

Congratulations to Corbin! He was awarded a $500 grant that he applied for in February to provide access to early childhood classic board books in Spanish to our community. The Children’s section director at the Bentonville Library was so grateful and Corbin’s donation. will  Thank you @bentonvilleschools for supporting bilingual education and for encouraging students to be inclusive and give back to their community. I’m really proud of Corbin for recognizing this need and his ability to do something about it all on his own. I love his compassionate heart. Bien Hecho, Corbin!