Feb 28, 2015

Little Miss Sunshine

I thought I knew what love was when I started dating Todd.  I thought I knew what love was when we got married.  I thought I knew what love was when Todd and I together left the Mormon church.  I was sure I knew what it was when we were wandering lost through a blizzard on top of the Half Dome in Yosemite, not sure if we'd see the light of another day.

And then Avery was born.

Oh.

I see.

Now I get it.

She is the sunshine that wakes me up and keeps me going.  She is truly the love of my life!  

And because she is my child, she is only mine for 16 more years, and then I have to let her go. :(
 I feel like I never really understood love until she came into my life.
And I know that Todd feels the same, and that makes me happy. 
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Avery is so smart.  A week after she turned two, she knew the entire alphabet.  Not just the song, she could identify and say each letter.  She can sing a dozen songs and hold conversations I didn't expect to have for years.  (Ever explain to a two year old why she doesn't need a bra but her mom does?)
She is so happy that she has to dance from room to room instead of walk.  She is very independent and has to dress herself and blow her own nose and choose all her outfits.  She puts on makeup which I sneakily wipe off before we leave the house.  She can use the remote control and the computer mouse.

She is amazing and I am so in love with her!
















Feb 4, 2015

Happy Half Way!

I haven't felt well enough to take weekly pregnancy photos.  
But I felt great in Panama and celebrated the half way point while there!

Panama Part Five: The Funny Stuff

I love to find things I find funny or interesting in different countries.  Here are a few photos of things that are different than I'm used to in the USA.


Airplane in someone's front yard

The Bocas equivalent to Bed, Bath and Beyond


Laundry soap or maybe air freshener.

Living with lizards.  They are welcome house guests because they eat the bugs.

Grape Nut ice cream.  Breakfast or dessert?

Cats wandering through the grocery store

Pet bird living in the meat department


Candy. 

This was a hostel pet.  She looked creepy and wise with her one good eye.



Panama Part Four: More Good Stuff


Here are tons of pics of the great trip. We did so many amazing things and really loved it!
Red Frog Beach

Turtle Beach- my favorite
The walk to red frog beach

The beach break on Red Frog beach was not good for surfing but really fun to play and boogy board in.


I felt so good and happy!  Seriously I think I'm allergic to Utah and the only antidote is the Ocean.


One day after a long hard surf session we rented bikes to go to Bluff Beach.  Our rusty clunky hunk of junk bikes barely made the 1.5 hour journey on the road and through the sand but we eventually pulled up to Bluff.  I felt like a rusty clunky hunk myself, as I barely survived the ride in the heat!



Becca found a hammock and had to use gymnast skills to get inside.

Bluff Beach was so beautiful, but I had ZERO energy left after surfing and biking so I sat in the shade trying not to throw up and watched Becca and Casey take it all in.
Casey


We spent a few days on Isla Bastimentos and got lots of relaxing and hiking in.
This was the hostel we stayed in: The Bocas Island Lodge.  We were very happy here and loved listening to the loud jungle sounds at night.  It was a 5 minute walk through the jungle to get to Red Frog Beach.


Casey the converted world traveler


We swam with bioluminescent algae and plankton!  It was a life wish of mine that I had no idea I would get to accomplish on this trip.  It was nearly impossible to photograph, so I grabbed these off Google.com.


It was too deep to touch where we were swimming.  There was total darkness around us except the stars above and the glowing plankton around us.  It was so magical and felt like a dream!


We saw a lot of wild life too.  Frogs, an armadillo, monkeys, a tree rat, and a lot of of sloths!

These guys were tiny
The size of a penny.  And poisonous.



Nap time.  He stayed like this for more than 12 hours!






We started calling my baby "Sloth" which I may one day regret. ;)