What just happened?

I cannot believe we are leaving this island in THREE days!  It feels like yesterday that Shane and I arrived here with our 6 month old baby.  I feel like we are just going home for the school break and then coming back like we have for the past two years.  It hasn't really hit me that we aren't coming back this time, which is why I am still trying to decide how I feel about leaving.  Obviously, I am SO excited to see all of our family and friends back in the states and not to mention all of the American conveniences that the good ol' US of A has to offer!  I am so excited that our family is moving on with the next phase of our lives and Shane will be starting the second half of medical school.  I am excited to see where we will go next, we're hoping it will be Redlands, California in August, and our chances of ending up there are pretty high.  I am so excited to meet baby #2 in less than 6 weeks!  There are lots of fun and exciting changes coming soon and that makes me really want to be done here!  On the other hand, I am going to miss Grenada.  This was Jeremy's first real home and where he learned to do everything...crawling, eating, walking, talking, etc.  We are really going to miss our friends and the tight-knit community of other LDS students and their families.  I am SO going to miss being able to go outside whenever I want with just a t-shirt, pair of shorts, and flip flops and have a free activity of going to the beach or pool whenever I want.  As I said before, I am so excited for baby #2 to join our family but I am going to miss it just being Shane, Jeremy and me!  Leaving Grenada doesn't just mean moving, it means a whole bunch of other changes to shortly follow.  Being here has been such a great experience.  Shane and I have been talking a lot lately about how we are so glad we chose to come here and if we had to go back and choose, we'd choose it again!  I mean, how many people can say that they have lived in another country (a third world country, nonetheless) for two years (not counting a mission)?  I have learned so much being here and it really has been a huge blessing in our lives.  But things are always changing and that's really exciting too!  We are excited for the next chapter and what it will bring!!!  

My cousin Tracy came to visit a few weeks ago so we decided that we should all (Shane included, can you believe it?) take advantage of the rental car and go and do pretty much everything cool one last time.  Here's what we did in no particular order.  Enjoy!

Closing social at the Grenada Grand

 LaSagesse Beach

 Snorkeling at Aquarium Beach.  So freakin' cool!

 Swimming at the University Club pool

  Belmont Chocolate Factory

Eating from the Cocoa pod

Where the beans dry

Yummy samples.  The Cocoa tea was SO good!

Seeing the parrots (Choc Factory)

And the monkeys (Choc Factory)

And the turtles (Choc Factory)

And feeding the goats (Choc Factory)

Pearls Airport.  An old airport right off the coast with a couple of broken down airplanes.  I knew Jeremy would LOVE to see them so we stopped here on our way home from the chocolate factory!

At the market downtown.  This is Teresa, she LOVES seeing Jeremy every time we go downtown!

And with Joseph.  He makes the most beautiful jewelry out of seashells, driftwood, fire beans, etc.

Smoothies downtown

So you can't really tell what this picture is but let me explain...We had the opportunity to go up to the north side of the island to Levera Beach and see these giant leatherback turtles lay their eggs in the sand.  They swim up to the shore, dig a hole, lay about 150 eggs, bury them and then swim back out to sea.  They usually only come out late at night and we weren't allowed to use flash photography, they can only be exposed to red light.  Our tour guide told us that only about 1 in 1000 make it to adulthood.  The males weigh around 2000 lbs and the females weigh around 1000 lbs.  They are huge!!!  These turtles are born, swim all over the globe, but make sure to return back to the same beach they were born on to lay their own eggs.  Isn't that crazy?  It was such a cool experience!  Click here to see this cool video!

Eating at Aquarium Restaurant on Tracy's last night!

We also went to Grand Anse beach, BBC beach, Lance Epines beach, Mt. Carmel, and saw the tide pools.  But I can't find those pictures :(  It was a great way to spend Tracy's vacation and for our family to see and do all the things we wanted to one more time before we leave!

Our Anniversary Date at the Beach House (Thanks for babysitting Tracy!!!)

Just Like Daddy

The other day Jeremy got into Shane's "underwear" drawer and grabbed a pair of his socks.  He pulled Shane's ankle socks up to his knees, slipped on his Dad's shoes, and then put Shane's backpack on and headed for the door.  Here's our little Term 5 med student!

Again, sorry about the video quality.

My Little Water Bug

Maybe this is why my child takes such long naps...

American Idol Auditions

Not me people, although I do like to think that I am somewhat responsible for this...
Meet American Idol 2030

Sorry the video is so dark.  I was using our underwater camera...not underwater.

V-Day for a med student's wife

Here's how my Valentine's day went.  I woke up to find a cute paper heart note on my nightstand from Shane.  I was going to make Shane a yummy crepe breakfast, you know, hearts, pink, yummy cream cheese filling, but then realized we are too poor to eat that fancy.  So I went with some toast with a heart cut out of it and eggs cooked in the middle!  Then Shane left for the entire day....which is normal.  I spent all day with Jeremy (which is also normal), making/getting stuff for Shane's Valentine's day gift.  Again, didn't spend a whole lot of money.  I continued to find little paper heart notes hidden all throughout our apartment, I think there were well over 20.  My hubby's a sweetie!  I made Valentine's sugar cookies and then we met Shane on campus for our "hot date" to the SO Valentine's day party, woot woot!  We frosted sugar cookies with Jeremy and made a candy bar poster.  We got home and didn't even really make dinner or go out to eat for three reasons: 1. We are too poor, 2.  We were too lazy, and 3.  We ate enough junk food at the party.  Then we put Jeremy to bed (after an enormous consumption of sugar) and I fell asleep watching The Mentalist with Shane...at 8:30.  Some day it will probably be different, but for now it really was the perfect Valentine's day.  I got to spend the whole evening with Shane, which doesn't happen very often!  He was so sweet and thoughtful in hiding little love notes to me all around the apartment. And Jeremy LOVED Valentine's day!  I think it's now his second favorite holiday, following Halloween!

And this is why!

Yummy treats

The candy and goodies we got Shane, and of course some Dr. Pepper!  We also made little heart notes of reasons we love Shane and put them in a jar.  Jeremy got a basketball and some candy for Valentine's day!

Jeremy's Valentine's box.  At our apartment complex we made boxes and passed out Valentine's to the neighbors.  Jeremy loved giving out Valentine's this year!

One of the hiding spots for the notes Shane wrote me!

Another hiding spot under my makeup bag

At the SO Valentine's party!

Opening the goods!

Frosting cookies with my little Jer-bear!

Opening his Valentine from Mom!

It was a great day!  I love my two valentines so much and by next year there will be a third!  Crazy!!!

Opening Social

Sunday was the opening social for the Significant Others Organization at SGU.  It was a fun social with some pretty good food that didn't show up until two hours after the start time...only in Grenada!  I don't know if you've heard of Mormon standard time or Shields standard time, but Grenadian standard time is WAY worse!  The locals are pretty slow moving and rarely things get down when they say they will get done.  Oh well, that's how the laid back lifestyle is here in Grenada and we are definitely used to it!

Here is a family photo just after the sunset

Oh, 21 weeks, by the way!

And here is a cute video of Jeremy dancing at the party with his girlfriend Leia.  Should I worry that he might will get made fun of if he continues to dance like this in high school?  I give Shane all the credit for those dance moves!!!

It was a fun night with okay company...kidding, it was a blast!  Even though this was the "opening" social, the term will be halfway over in just a couple of weeks.  I can't believe it!  Shane has his first set of midterms all next week (wish him luck) and then we'll have to party it up next weekend!  Post to follow!

The FAM came!!!

We were so excited to have Shane's parents and Melinda come visit us in Grenada at the end of January.  It was so fun to finally show our family what we've been doing and where we've been for the past year and a half.  We did a lot of stuff.  Because I am lazy and way behind on blogging, click here to see what we did.  Here are the few pictures that Doug took with my camera.  They took way more on theirs!

The mall downtown

Doug wanted to get a picture of the red car we owned while in Grenada.

The narrow streets and crazy drivers downtown

The Carenage, usually where lots of ships and yachts park

The tide pools at the southern most tip of the island.  Pretty much borders the Atlantic and the Caribbean

It was so fun to have family here!  They were such great guests and so helpful!  It was so fun to see Melinda one last time before she left on her mission and to show Doug and Julie where we've called home for the past 18 months!  They will probably be our last visitors before we go home for good at the end of May.  Weird.  I can't believe we are almost done with our time in Grenada.  It FLEW by and was one of the best experiences Shane and I have ever had!  This literally is home for Jeremy, it is all he's really known.  It will be sad to say goodbye to that but we are so excited to get back to the states and see where we'll be next!

All Aboard the Two Two Train

That was Jeremy's so-called "theme" for his 2nd birthday last Friday.  When I asked Jer what he wanted for his birthday he said "um....cupcakes and balloons."  I figured that was a pretty reasonable request, so that's what we did.  Here's Jeremy's big day in pictures! 

The day started out bright and early at 5:15 am!  I think he sensed the excitement!  He loved his special sign!

And the balloons he asked for.  He kept throwing them up in the air and screaming.  Safe to say I think he liked the balloons!  

Playing outside with his buddy Tanner

Homemade hamburgers and fries for lunch.  The smile says it all!  One of his favorite meals.  Do you think I can hide McDonald's from him till he's out of the house? 

A walk in his stroller.  He has been begging me to take him on a walk in "his" stroller for a while now but it's been broken for a few months.  I finally got the part a week ago and with the help of Grandpa we fixed the stroller just in time to take it for a spin on his big day!

Then we had a small party for Jeremy and invited all of his little buddies.  Just cake/cupcakes and juice.  Nothing too fancy!

The food

Jeremy loved eating the frosting while decorating the cupcakes!  I mean seriously, look at that face.

He got a homemade kitchen set from our awesome neighbor Patty!  She is so sweet.  She even made him a little mini apron...and Jeremy loves it, can you tell?!  Thanks Patty!

Family pictures

Playing at his party, climbing fences with girls

Jeremy and Leia, his little girlfriend, eating cupcakes

Cuddling with Daddy after an exciting and long day!

Say cheese!

Jeremy was so tired that night that we decided to open presents the next morning!

He got puzzles, motorcycles, trains, bath toys, pez (he loves those since Christmas), and more.

The goods!

He was even spoiled by his grandparents and got presents all the way from the United States!  Thanks Grandma, Grandpa, Mima and Papa for the presents!

Now this little boy is TWO!!!  I can't believe how fast the time has gone.  Jeremy is such a smart little boy.  He speaks in full sentences and can communicate his ideas and thoughts to us without a problem.  He is so funny and has such a little personality.  He is now in a big boy bed and he put his own sandals on today!  He is growing up so fast and we love him so much!  

Some things Jeremy loves:

Tractors, bikes, motorcycles, cars, trucks, airplanes, really anything that goes

Puzzles.  Jeremy has gotten really good at doing puzzles.  He got an age 2+ puzzle for his birthday and as soon as he opened it, he did it in about 5 seconds.  

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  Just recently he's been watching a lot of those shows on Youtube

Reading books.  He loves to read with me on the couch or on one of our beds.  His favorite book right now is called My Big Truck Book.

Popsicles.  He loves to eat popsicles outside every afternoon.  Which is great because it's so hot outside and it gives me an excuse to eat one too :)

Singing.  Jeremy LOVES to sing and he's really good at carrying a tune.  His favorite song right now is by far Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.  He sings it ALL the time.  He also really likes the ABC's song but I've noticed that he tends to sing "A B C D E F G, How I wonder what you are."  Same tune makes it kind of confusing I guess!

Treats.  Lately, I've found that I've been bribing Jeremy with lots of sugar to get him to do what I want because one of his new favorite words is "nope".  Does that make me a bad parent?  

The water.  Jeremy loves swimming in the pool.  He is getting really independent about swimming all over the place with his floaties on.  I love it!  He also loves bath time!

Jumping.  Jeremy recently learned to jump with both feet (I know, it took him forever).  But since he figured it out, he loves to practice in our kitchen jumping over the grout lines of the tile.  He loves climbing up the ladder of the pool and jumping off the edge into the water!

His comfort tools (as we call them).  Pacifier, blanky, Rover and Brownie (his two stuffed dogs).  He is pretty much to the point where he only really wants them in his bed for naps and bedtime, so I guess it's not too terrible right?  Okay but really, the pacifier has to go.

We love this little guy so much!  Before I had Jeremy, I couldn't imagine my life with him, but now we can't imagine our family without him!  He is the best!  

And one last picture to show you how cute he is!

Painting outside with his friends

Jeremy 2 yrs